Wallace Fact Checks Trump: Biden Does Not Support Defunding The Police

During an interview on “FOX News Sunday,” host Chris Wallace challenged President Trump’s claim that Democratic rival Joe Biden had called for defunding the police, leading the president to call for a printed list of the Joe Biden-Bernie Sanders “unity task force” platform endorsed by the Democrats.

Wallace reported: “The White House never sent us evidence the Bernie-Biden platform calls for defunding or abolishing police—because there is none. It calls for increased funding for police departments–that meet certain standards. Biden has called for redirecting some police funding for related programs—like mental health counseling.”

WALLACE: There has been a spike in violent crime in America in recent weeks. We’ve seen deaths up in New York, deaths up in Chicago, shootings. How do you explain it and what are you going to do about it?

TRUMP: I explain it very simply by saying that they’re Democrat-run cities, they are liberally run. They are stupidly run. We have forced them in Seattle to end the CHOP because, you know, we were going in that following day. You probably have heard it. We were getting ready to go in. We were all set, and when they heard that we were going they set their police force.

WALLACE: Liberal Democrats have been running cities in this country for decades.

TRUMP: Poorly.

WALLACE: Why is it so bad right now?

TRUMP: They run them poorly, it was always bad but now it’s gotten totally out of control and it’s really because they want to defund the police. And Biden wants to defund the police.

WALLACE: No he, sir, he does not.

TRUMP: Look. He signed a charter with Bernie Sanders; I will get that one just like I was right on the mortality rate. Did you read the charter that he agreed to with…

WALLACE: It says nothing about defunding the police.

TRUMP: Oh really? It says abolish, it says — let’s go. Get me the charter, please.

WALLACE: All right.

TRUMP: Chris, you’ve got to start studying for these.

WALLACE: He says defund the police?

TRUMP: He says defund the police. They talk about abolishing the police. They talk about illegal aliens pouring …

WALLACE: I look, I look forward – I look forward to seeing that.

WALLACE: Meanwhile, the George Floyd murder has reignited the issue of racism in policing in this country. I want to give you a couple of statistics. Nationwide blacks are twice as likely, fewer in absolute numbers, but in terms of per capita, blacks are twice as likely to be shot and killed by police as whites are. In Minneapolis, over the last five years, police used force against blacks at a rate seven times that against whites.

Can you understand why blacks would be angry at that?

TRUMP: Of course I do. Of course I do. Many whites are killed also. You have to say that.

WALLACE: I understand that.

TRUMP: I mean, many, many whites are killed. I hate the sad – but this is going on for decades. This is going on for a long time, long before I got here. You know, if you look at what’s gone on in Portland, those are anarchists and we’ve taken a very tough stand. If we didn’t take a stand in Portland, you know we’ve arrested many of these leaders. If we didn’t take that stand, right now you would have a problem like you, you – they were going to lose Portland. So let’s see…

WALLACE: Ok, let’s see.

TRUMP: …what this says here: Prosecutions, sanctuary cities, incentivize illegal aliens, expand asylum, abolish immigration detention –

WALLACE: That’s not –

TRUMP: No. I, I – we’ll find it.

WALLACE: Ok.

TRUMP: This thing is many pages long.

TRUMP: End prosecution of illegal border crossers. Support deathly — and these are the worse things, sanctuary cities –

WALLACE: Sir, I’m not, I’m not, I’m not disagreeing with you on any of those. I’m disagreeing about defund police –