White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki engaged in a debate with Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy over whether Republicans defunded the police and suggested their “actions speak louder than words.”
During a White House press briefing on Wednesday, Doocy said there are several examples of Democrats saying they want to defund the police.
“You’ve got Congresswoman Cori Bush, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, are there any examples of Republican members of Congress saying they want to defund the police?” Doocy said.
Psaki replied, “I think most people would argue that actions are more important than words, wouldn’t you say?”
Doocy pushed back, saying, “Well to that point there, at the time of the vote on the American Rescue Plan, you had Republican leader in the Senate Mitch McConnell said he just didn’t like it because he thought that was a classic example of big government Democratic overreach in the name of Covid relief, and then Kevin McCarthy said he thought Democrats were using coronavirus as an excuse to justify funding pet projects. Where is the ‘we’re going to vote against this because we want to defund the police?'”
Watch the debate below:
Psaki: Again, I think actions speak louder than words Peter… pic.twitter.com/m36LSwYZ4f
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Psaki reiterated she believes “actions speak louder than words,” explaining, “So if you oppose funding for the COPS program, something that was dramatically cut by their prior administration and many Republicans supported, and then you vote against the bill that has funding for the COPS program, we can let other people evaluate what that means.”
She continued, “It doesn’t require them to speak to it or to shout it out, their actions speak for themselves.”
The White House press secretary and Doocy sparred over the same issue during a press briefing on Monday.
Doocy noted, “Something one of the advisers said this weekend, Cedric Richmond, he said, ‘Republicans defunded the police by not supporting the American Rescue Plan.'”
He added, “But how is it that that is an argument to be made when the president never mentioned needing money for police to stop a crime wave when he was selling the American Rescue Plan?”
Psaki explained President Joe Biden “did mention that the American Rescue Plan, they’ll — the state and local funding, something that was supported by the President, a lot of Democrats who supported and voted for the bill, could help ensure local cops were kept on the beat in communities across the country.”
She pointed out “it didn’t receive a single Republican vote. That funding has been used to keep cops on the beat.”
