Trump insists no police defunding amid U.S.-wide clamor for reforms
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[June 09, 2020]
By Steve Holland and Alexandra Alper
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald
Trump on Monday pledged to maintain funding for police departments in
the United States amid growing calls for sweeping cuts to law
enforcement budgets as protesters clamored for an end to police
brutality following the death of George Floyd in police custody in
Minneapolis last month.
"There won't be defunding, there won't be dismantling of our police,"
Trump told a roundtable of state, federal, and local law enforcement
officials at the White House on Monday. "We want to make sure we don't
have any bad actors in there ... but 99 percent ... of them are great
great people and have done jobs that are record setting."
Demonstrators' anger over the May 25 death of George Floyd, 46, is
giving way to a growing movement to make his case a turning point in
race relations and policing, with some protesters and some liberal
Democrats calling for police budgets to be slashed.
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But moderate Democrats have distanced themselves from the proposal,
including presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was jeered by protesters over the weekend
after telling them he opposed their demands for cuts in the city's
police department.
At a White House briefing earlier on Monday, Press Secretary Kayleigh
McEnany said Trump "is appalled by the defund the police movement." She
noted that the President is "taking a look at various" proposals in
response to Floyd's death, but offered no specifics as to what measures
he was considering.
On Monday, Democrats in Congress unveiled legislation that would
make lynching a hate crime and allow victims of police and their
families to sue police for damages in civil court, ending a legal
doctrine known as qualified immunity.
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![](../images/060920pics/news_g13.jpg)
President Donald Trump listens during a roundtable discussion with
law enforcement in the State Dining Room at the White House in
Washington, U.S., June 8, 2020. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
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Trump has drawn fire for calling on state governors to crack down on
the thousands protesting Floyd's death around the country and
threatening to send in the U.S. military even as he described
himself as an ally to peaceful protesters.
McEnany said on Monday that Trump believes there are some
"instances" of racism among police but added that the president sees
the police as by and large good people.
(Reporting by Steve Holland and Alexandra Alper; Writing by Eric
Beech; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Grant McCool)
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