Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) is not giving Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden credit for condemning violent demonstrations that have erupted in several U.S. cities.
During an appearance on “Fox & Friends” on Thursday morning, Stefanik said, “Joe Biden … it’s too little too late, he has been silent been two and a half months.”
“But they are now talking about this, because they know that as voters are watching their TV screens and concerned about the safety and security in their community, this is going to become one of the key deciding issues as people head to the polls this November,” she said.
On Wednesday afternoon, Biden tweeted a video where he voiced support for peaceful protests against police brutality but condemned “needless violence.”
“What I saw in that video makes me sick,” Biden said of the video that captured the moment Jacob Blake was shot by a white police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin. “Once again, a black man, Jacob Blake, has been shot by the police in broad daylight with the whole world watching.”
Biden expressed his belief that “justice must and will be done.”
He emplored Americans to “put yourself in the shoes of every Black mother and Black father in this country and ask, is this what we want America to be? Is this the country we should be?”
And he expressed his belief that “protesting brutality is a right and absolutely necessary.”
“But burning down communities is not protest, it’s needless violence. Violence that endangers lives. Violence that guts businesses and shutters businesses that serve the community. That’s wrong,” he added.
Finally, Biden called on Americans to “unite and heal, do justice, end the violence, and end systemic racism in this country.”
Once again, a Black man — Jacob Blake — was shot by the police. In front of his children. It makes me sick.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 26, 2020
Is this the country we want to be?
Needless violence won’t heal us. We need to end the violence — and peacefully come together to demand justice. pic.twitter.com/WdNqrxA3PK
Biden’s comments come as violent demonstrations raged in Kenosha after Blake, a Black man, was shot from behind several times by a white police officer as he leaned into his car.
Law enforcement officials in Wisconsin say they recovered a knife from the floorboard of the car.
However, Blake’s lawyer says he did not pose a threat to the police officers and questioned if he had a knife in his possession.