Biden Claims Police Invade Neighborhoods With Surplus Military Equipment, Says Funding Needs to be Redirected

Presumed Democrat Presidential Nominee Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden spoke with progressive activist Ady Barkan, who is suffering from ALS, and his family in a NowThis exclusive. At one point in the interview, they were talking about the recent civil unrest in regards to the police.

The Trump campaign has seized on that part of the interview and tweeted that “Joe Biden says police have “BECOME THE ENEMY” and calls for CUTTING police funding: ‘Yes, absolutely!'”

Joe Biden says police have "BECOME THE ENEMY" and calls for CUTTING police funding: "Yes, absolutely!" pic.twitter.com/PKXvz3zobe

— Trump War Room – Text TRUMP to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) July 8, 2020

Biden: Surplus military equipment for law enforcement, they don’t need that. The last thing you need is an up-armored humvee coming into a neighborhood, it’s like the military invading, they don’t know anybody, they become the enemy, they are supposed to be protecting these people

Barkan: Can we agree that we can redirect some of the funding.

Biden: Yes, absolutely

Full interview:

Barkan endorsed Biden today and encouraged him to pick Senator Elizabeth Warren as his running mate.

From The Hill:

In an interview with The New York Times, Barkan said he recently had a conversation with Biden and that he is eager to ensure that progressives who were disappointed by the Democratic primary results do not stay on the sidelines during the general election.

“Even though he wasn’t our first choice, I don’t think that progressives and democratic socialists should sit out the election, or vote third party, and I wanted to make that clear,” Barkan said.

“I think that the vice president and his staff understand the need to unify the party, and I think that is why they agreed to the conversation,” Barkan said. “The conversation reinforced my pre-existing understanding of Joe Biden. He is an intelligent, compassionate man who will be a vast improvement over Donald Trump.”

Barkan, who is a prominent voice in left-wing circles and a well-regarded advocate for “Medicare for All,” met with most of the Democratic White House hopefuls during the primary.

But Barkan, who has ALS and is confined to a wheelchair, said at the time that Biden refused to meet with him. He pointedly jabbed at Biden over Twitter at the time, saying: “If he’s afraid of a paralyzed man who talks politely and very slowly, how does he expect to survive a debate with Trump?”

Barkan has a long history of working with and supporting Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). However, Barkan endorsed Warren during the Democratic primary.

In his conversation with the Times, Barkan said the best thing Biden can do to “excite young progressive voters” is to pick Warren to be his vice president.