President Biden drew a comparison on Wednesday between Democrats supporting defunding the police and a QAnon conspiracy theory, insisting that his party backs law enforcement.
The remarks came after a reporter sought to clarify remarks the president made earlier during a CNN town hall that "there’s no — no one in the Democratic Party [who] is anti-police." Biden denied the remark.
Biden: I didn’t say that.
Reporter: I know that you said you don’t want to defund the police —
Biden: I said that that — that is not the Democratic Party’s position.
Reporter: Okay.
Biden: I’m the Democratic Party; I am President. So is the Speaker of the House and so is the –- the Majority Leader. We are not the defunding the police.
Reporter: Okay. And are there people who — in the Democratic Party, who want to defund the police?
And that’s when Biden shot back with reference to the conspiracy theory: “Are there people in the Republican Party who think we’re sucking the blood out of kids?”
According to The Denver Gazette, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton once addressed the "'frazzledrip' QAnon conspiracy theory that she and aide Huma Abedin once killed a girl on video before wearing her face as a mask and drinking her blood," calling it "hurtful" and "painfully false."
Reporter: Are there Democrats who want to defund the police?
— JT Lewis (@thejtlewis) July 23, 2021
Biden: *something about sucking the blood out of kids*
Reporter: uhhh…pic.twitter.com/Hk2FvCtM9g
As Katie reported during the 2020 campaign, Biden said police can "become the enemy" and agreed that funding should "absolutely" be redirected.
This is scary. @JoeBiden is too weak to stand up to his own supporters calling for defunding the police. https://t.co/aEPuZd6dN9
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) July 8, 2020
Other progressive Democrats, such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have called for defunding the police, as did members of his administration, like Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, before she walked back her statement.