Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is weighing in on a member of the so-called “Squad’s” call to do away with policing.
Asked about Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s (D-Mich.) comments on policing and if he agrees with her, Sanders responded to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday evening by asking, “I’m sorry, who said that,” before adding after clarification, “No, I don’t.”
“I think that what we need to do is to understand that there needs to be major, major police reform all across this country,” Sanders said. “We are tired of seeing the same thing, week after week and year after year. We do not want to see innocent African Americans shot in cold blood.”
Watch his interview below:
Sen. Bernie Sanders reacts to Biden's plan to withdraw troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11:
— The Situation Room (@CNNSitRoom) April 14, 2021
“These wars cannot continue to go on forever and we've got to learn that in many respects diplomacy… is much more important, much more effective than an occupying force on the ground.” pic.twitter.com/ho5Er9lbmu
Responding to the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright, a Black man, by a police officer in Minnesota over the weekend, Tlaib tweeted on Monday, “It wasn’t an accident. Policing in our country is inherently and intentionally racist. Daunte Wright was met with aggression [and] violence. I am done with those who condone government funded murder.”
She added, “No more policing, incarceration, and militarization. It can’t be reformed.”
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) appeared to push back on Tlaib’s comments when he was asked about them during a CNN interview on Tuesday. He was also responding to Rep. Ayanna Pressley’s (D-Mass.) recent remark when she tweeted on Monday, “From slave patrols to traffic stops. We can’t reform this.”
After saying “the evidence gives them reason to speak up as they have,” Durbin said, “We know, the bottom line here, we do need law enforcement in this country for safety and security in our homes and our neighborhoods and our cities.”
He continued, “But we must demand of law enforcement with all the par that is given to an individual officer that this type of racial conduct be purged from law enforcement.”
Additionally, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked about Tlaib’s remarks during Wednesday’s press briefing, to which she said, “What I can say from here is that that’s not the president’s view.”
Psaki continued, “The president’s view is that there are necessary outdated reforms that should be put into place. That there’s accountability that needs to happen. That the loss of life is far too high, [that] these families are suffering around the country. And that the Black community is exhausted from the ongoing threats they feel.”
“But he also believes that there is a forum for putting in place legislation, the George Floyd Act, that can help put many of these necessary reforms in place, and part of what needs to happen is rebuilding trust in communities in order to get to a better place,” she added.