- President Joe Biden visited Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Tuesday to promote his Safer America Plan.
- Biden spoke angrily about his frustrations with gun violence in America.
President Joe Biden condemned his "MAGA Republican friends" for refusing to condemn the violent attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, while saying they support law enforcement during remarks in Pennsylvania on Tuesday.
"Let me say this to my MAGA Republican friends in Congress: Don't tell me you support law enforcement, if you won't condemn what happened on the 6th," Biden said in Wilkes-Barre. "Don't tell me. You can't do it. For God's sake. Whose side are you on?"
While many Republican lawmakers have condemned the violence during the Capitol riot, many have opposed the House select committee investigating the riot and minimized the violence. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right Republican from Georgia, has repeatedly insisted that the rioters are being "persecuted" by law enforcement as part of a "political witch hunt." In February, the Republican National Committee labeled the January 6 riot "legitimate political discourse" and condemned two Republicans, Reps. Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney, who are investigating the events. Recent polling has found that more Republican voters believe the insurrection was a "legitimate protest," rather than a "riot." At the same time, the GOP has broadly claimed to "back the blue," and slammed efforts to reduce funding for police.
Biden's speech was filled with passion and anger as he discussed the state of crime and gun violence in America. The president was promoting his Safer America Plan, which involves a number of initiatives to support law enforcement and reduce gun violence and crime.
The plan includes funding for 100,000 additional police officers, $20 billion in services that address the root causes of crime, and takes "commonsense steps" to encourage Congress to pass legislation requiring background checks for all gun sales and banning assault weapons.
Speaking at the Marts Center at Wilkes University, just outside of Biden's hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, the president said the answer to creating safer communities is not "defunding the police," but boosting funding for them.
The president continued: "I've not met a cop who likes a bad cop. There's bad in everything. There's lousy senators, there's lousy presidents, there's lousy doctors, there's lousy lawyers ... But I don't know any police officer that feels good about the fact that there may be a lousy cop."
Biden emphasized his frustrations with the number of mass shootings in the US, speaking about his trip to Uvalde, Texas, where a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in May. He told Americans to ask the people running for office if they support "banning assault weapons" and if the answer is no, "don't vote for them."
Reminiscing on his time running for president, Biden said a lot of the criticism he got was that he was "too bipartisan."
"Biden has too many Republican friends," the president said, referring to progressive criticism of him. "It was a lot of Republicans. I've worked with for years the Senate I got a lot done. We respected each other. We disagreed, we disagreed on principle. We then went had lunch together, not a joke. What in God's name has happened to that United States of America?"