Sen. Cotton accuses Biden of stacking DOJ with defund the police 'radicals'
Biden administration to focus on gun violence as crime spikes in major cities
Fox News contributors Leslie Marshall and Jason Chaffetz debate how to solve the problem on ‘Fox News @ Night’
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., accused President Biden of stacking the Department of Justice (DOJ) with “radicals” aiming to defund law enforcement across America as the nation sees a rise in crime.
Cotton retweeted a video on Monday of Fox News’ Peter Doocy questioning White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday about the rise of violent crime across America.
In the tweet, the senator accused Biden of packing the DOJ with anti-police extremists looking to defund law enforcement.
“Biden has stacked the Department of Justice with radicals who want to defund the police,” Cotton wrote.
Cotton expanded on his tweet in a Wednesday statement to Fox News, blasting Biden’s controversial senior DOJ officials Kristen Clarke and Vanita Gupta as the “anti-police radicals” in question.
“President Biden has stacked his Department of Justice with anti-police radicals like Kristen Clarke and Vanita Gupta,” Cotton said. “America’s police officers already face enough danger and hardship – they shouldn’t have to worry if the DOJ will have their back.”
The senator also criticized Clarke and Gupta in floor speeches during their confirmation processes, slamming the two, who now serve under Attorney General Merrick Garland, for their stances on defunding the police.
“Vanita Gupta and Kristen Clarke both support defunding, disarming and defaming our police. They stand with the perpetrators of crime – not with the victims of it,” Cotton said in a speech from March. “There’s little doubt that Judge Garland would empower these left-wing radicals embedded inside the department.”
Psaki said in the video that Biden has “never supported defunding the police” and blamed firearms for the uptick in crime while pushing community policing.
Biden nominated Gupta for her job in the face of Republican concerns about her views on defunding the police, decriminalizing small amounts of drugs and ending qualified immunity for law enforcement officers.
Additionally, Republicans pointed to Gupta’s previous fiery rhetoric against the GOP and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, warned Gupta “will be a clear and present danger to the American people if she’s given the muscle and might of the Department of Justice, as well as the entire federal government of the United States of America.”
Gupta has denied supporting the defund the police movement and apologized for her past rhetoric against Republicans.
Clarke, the head of DOJ’s civil rights division, also faced scrutiny during her confirmation process for her controversial past writings on race as well as her role in organizing a conference that championed cop killers while she was a law student at Columbia.
The DOJ’s civil rights chief also pushed the debunked hate crime claims of actor Jussie Smollett and chastised the Chicago Police Department after the actor refused to turn his cellphone over for the investigation.
Psaki said to Doocy on Tuesday that she was not aware of any changes to Biden’s support of ending cash bail amid the spike in violent crime.
The White House did not return Fox News’ request for comment.
Source: Read Full Article