Harris told HOT 97 that movement is ‘rightly’ questioning budget priorities
VP Kamala Harris' political rise in focus
Fox News’ William La Jeunesse reports on Kamala Harris' ascent to the presumptive 2024 Democratic presidential candidate.
A recently unearthed video has captured then-Sen. Kamala Harris voicing support for the "defund the police" movement in 2020, despite the Biden campaign saying otherwise just months later after she joined the Democratic presidential ticket.
Harris, speaking to the "Ebro in the Morning!" radio program on New York City-based HOT 97, said, "This whole movement is about rightly saying we need to take a look at these budgets and figure out whether it reflects the right priorities."
"Defund the police, the issue behind it is that we need to reimagine how we are creating safety. And when you have many cities that have one third of their entire city budget focused on policing, we know that is not the smart way and the best way or the right way to achieve safety," Harris began by saying on the June 9, 2020, radio show.
At the time, the "defund the police" movement was gaining national momentum following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis only weeks earlier.
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Harris speaks following a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, July 25. (AP/Julia Nikhinson)
"For too long, the status quo thinking has been, you get more safety by putting more cops on the street. Well, that’s wrong. Because by the way, if you want to look at upper middle-class suburban neighborhoods, they don’t have that patrol car. They don’t have those police walking those streets. But what they do have? They have well-funded schools. What they do have is homeownership, high homeownership rates. What they do have are thriving small businesses. What they do have is access to public health and mental health services," Harris said during the show.
"So, this whole movement is about rightly saying we need to take a look at these budgets and figure out whether it reflects the right priorities. When, today in America, two thirds of our public school teachers are coming out of their own back pocket to help pay for school supplies when we have, for generations now, been defunding public schools but yet militarizing police departments, we need to have this conversation. And critically examine and understand that this is not working. It’s not working," she continued.
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Protesters march in Brooklyn in New York City in July 2020. (Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images)
"This is an important conversation and not just a conversation — 'cause to your earlier point, it can’t just be about talk," Harris also said. "It has to be about forcing change. And this is why, you know, I was out there with folks and any movement, any progress we have gained has been because people took to the streets. And that is what we are seeing today and what gives me a sense of hope is that people who seemingly have nothing in common understand they have this in common and are marching together."
After that interview, which was first reported by CNN, Harris was chosen to be Biden’s running mate in August of that year.
Then, in October 2020, Harris’ former press secretary Sabrina Singh was quoted in media reports as saying that "Joe Biden and Kamala Harris do not support defunding the police, and it is a lie to suggest otherwise."
"Throughout her career, Sen. Harris has supported increasing funding to police departments and boosting funding for community policing," Singh reportedly added.
Biden, left, and Harris on the Truman Balcony of the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 4, 2024. Harris' former press secretary said after she joined Biden's campaign years earlier that she did not support defending the police, according to media reports. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Harris’ campaign and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital on Friday.
Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.
