Harris Co-Chair on Past Praise of Defund the Police: ‘Don’t Think’ That’s Her View, It’s ‘Out of Context’, She Has Same View

On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” Harris Campaign Co-Chair Mitch Landrieu responded to a question on if 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris no longer stands by her past praise of defund the police by stating “I don’t think so” and maintaining the clips of her doing so were “played out of context.” He also stated that “what I think she was trying to say there, and I think that many criminal justice experts would say this is true, that you can both be tough and smart on crime, that police officers are critically important.” And Her position has always been that you can both be tough and smart on crime and it requires funding police, but it also requires funding rehabilitation and things that make criminal justice system safer.”

Host Pamela Brown asked, “I want to ask you about this, CNN’s KFILE found that, just a couple of months before joining Biden’s campaign as his running mate in June 2020, Harris praised the defund the police movement. Let’s take a listen to that.”

She then played clips of Harris saying, “Defund the police, the issue behind it is that we need to re-imagine how we are creating safety, and when you have many cities that have one-third of their entire city budget focused on policing, we know that is not the smart way and the best way or the right way to achieve safety.” And “This whole movement is about rightly saying, we need to take a look at these budgets and figure out whether it reflects the right priorities.” And “For too long, the status quo thinking has been, you get more safety by putting more cops on the street. Well, that’s wrong.”

Brown then asked, “Is that no longer Harris’ position?”

Landrieu responded, “No, I don’t think so. I think, again, as she would tell you, with a funny story, you have to consider everything in context. The fact of the matter is that the Vice President started off, as you know, as a prosecutor, prosecuting criminals in San Francisco. She went after the bad guys. She put sexual abusers in jail. She put business frauds in jail. When she was the attorney general of California, she ran literally the largest law firm in the country, and, in many instances, the world. And what I think she was trying to say there, and I think that many criminal justice experts would say this is true, that you can both be tough and smart on crime, that police officers are critically important. And if you look at her record, along with the president, they have actually funded the police. They are the ones that put more money, not only into the FBI, the DEA, the ATF, the U.S. Marshals office, and the U.S. attorneys, but they funded police departments with real cash and put real cops on the streets. So, she believes in police officers and she understands their sacrifice.”

He continued, “But I think it is also true that when you’re dealing with criminal justice, you have to make sure that you can decide whether somebody’s bad or good, not by the color of their skin, but by their behavior, and that when you’re dealing with mental health, when you’re dealing with substance abuse, when you try to find alternatives for offenders that are not serious offenders, you can actually create a safer system. It’s not just about police officers. And I think, as a matter of fact, the proof is in the pudding. We have had crime actually go down really a lot during the Biden-Harris administration. And, of course, it was really high during the Trump administration. And so, when you put them both together and you’re tough on crime and you’re smart on crime, you can accomplish both things and make the streets safe.”

Brown then asked, “Okay, but the bottom line is, you said you did not believe that that was still her position, what we just played. You laid out her position now, Mitch –.”

Landrieu then cut in to say, “No.”

Brown then cut in to ask, “Okay, so, that is still her position, she wants to move money from police departments potentially, she thinks those are still the same?”

Landrieu responded, “That’s not what I said. What I said was you have to consider those comments in context.”

Brown followed up, “[I]s that still her position or not?”

Landrieu responded, “What I’m saying to you is that that statement that you just played was played out of context. Her position has always been that you can both be tough and smart on crime, and it requires funding police, but it also requires funding rehabilitation and things that make the criminal justice system safer. You can do both.”

Brown followed up, “But just for clarity’s sake, does she want to take money from police departments and potentially put them into community services, because that was what was part of that discussion?”

Landrieu answered, “And what I said was, if you looked at her record as the Vice President, that she actually gave more funding, with President Biden, to the police. So, her actions indicate that she wants to fund the police, but she wants to do the other things as well, because both of them, together, will create safety on the streets of America.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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