Sen. Chris Coons insists that just because Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden did not discuss rising violent crime in the U.S. or the rising threat of China during his speech at last week’s Democratic convention, that does not mean he is ill-equipped to tackle those issues.
Coons, D-Del., told “Fox News Sunday” that both Biden and Harris have a proven record on crime that Americans can trust, and that Biden should not be lumped in with those on the left who have called for defunding police departments.
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“He’s made it clear he doesn’t support defunding the police and he doesn’t support violent protest,” Coons said, when host Chris Wallace mentioned rising crime, such as increases in homicides in Chicago, murders in New York City, and 86 days of protests in Portland that have often turned violent. When Wallace noted that the question was not about protests or defunding the police, Coons insisted that both Biden and Harris support police, even if they want to see changes to the system.
“Joe Biden is someone with a long record of supporting community policing,” he said. “Just because Joe Biden and Kamala Harris see a path forward in which they will reform policing to make it more just and more appropriate in our multiethnic, multifaith community doesn’t mean that they fail to support policing.”
Addressing Portland, Coons blamed federal intervention for making matters worse, saying that federal involvement “was overmilitarized and wasn’t asked for or welcome by the mayor or the governor.”
Wallace then asked Coons about why Biden did not mention China at all during his speech, despite their growing economic threat to the U.S.
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In July, Attorney General Bill Barr delivered a blistering speech in which he warned that the Chinese Communist Party was seeking global superiority in several industries, and using “unlawful tactics” including espionage and intellectual property theft to achieve their goals. President Trump recently said that China “will own our country” if Biden wins in November.
“What Joe Biden says on the campaign trail is he believes in us,” Coons said. “He believes that the American people, the American worker, can out-compete China, but he is very clear-eyed about the threat and the challenge that China presents to the United States.”
Coons added that Biden has “detailed plans for how to strengthen our global network of alliances to effectively stand up to China,” although he did not elaborate on this.
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The senator then supported Biden for his statement in a recent interview with ABC in which he said he would be willing to shut down the U.S. economy again if it was necessary to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
“What Joe Biden said there was he will listen to public health experts,” Coons said, claiming that President Trump has not done this.
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