GOP lawmakers 'can't be pro-law enforcement and pro-insurrection,' Biden says
President Biden directly addressed his "MAGA Republican friends in Congress" on Tuesday, saying you can't claim to "support law enforcement if you don't condemn what happened on the 6th. For God's sake, whose side are you on?"
Biden was referring to the events of Jan. 6, 2021, when dozens of officers were injured as a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol. "You can't be pro-law enforcement and pro-insurrection," he continued. "You can't be a party of law and order and call the people who attacked the police on Jan. 6 patriots. You can't do it."
The president made his remarks in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, during a speech about his Safer America Plan. He also mentioned the FBI agents who have been threatened since executing a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago, former President Donald Trump's Florida home, earlier this month as part of an investigation into Trump's handling of classified information. "It's sickening to see the new attacks on the FBI," Biden said, calling out the threats made against the lives of "law enforcement agents and their families for simply carrying out the law and doing their job."
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As part of his Safer America Plan, Biden wants to see 100,000 police officers hired across the United States. "The answer is not to defund the police," he said. "It's fund the police." At the same time, "there should be more training, more help, and more accountability," Biden continued. "Increased trust makes policing more effective and it strengthens public safety in the communities."
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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