Van Jones: Trump executive order on police reform ‘a step in the right direction’

CNN’s Van Jones called President Trump’s executive order on police reform “a good thing” and a “a step in the right direction” following a White House signing ceremony on Tuesday.

“The executive order is a good thing,” Jones said on “Inside Politics.” “Mainly because you saw the support of law enforcement there. That gives you a sense of where the bottom is, where the floor is for reform, and that floor is higher than it has been.”

“There is movement in the direction of a database for bad cops. We have never had a federal database for bad cops, that’s why all these cops go all over the place doing bad stuff,” the former Obama administration official told anchor John King. “The chokeholds, that’s common ground now between [Speaker] Nancy Pelosi and Trump. Good stuff there.”

Van Jones on President Trump’s policing executive order: “progress has been made” pic.twitter.com/RtxMM8m1JF

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) June 16, 2020

But Jones also said he felt the president’s speech “missed an opportunity” in being too political.

“It started off with a lot of unity. And then it moved into politics and a whole bunch of stuff that people are going to fight about, and it tried to move back into unity in the end. That is classic Trump.”

“I think the progress that the people have made in getting even the Trump White House, the Republicans, and now law enforcement along with Democrats, to take steps forward is really powerful,” he continued. “The speech, I don’t give it a high rating, but the executive order is a step in the right direction.”

The president signed the order amid a raging national debate sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which has led to protests, violence and vandalism in its wake.

The executive order allows the Justice Department to allocate discretionary grant funding to police departments for police training and de-escalation techniques. The department eligible for funding are required to be certified by federally approved bodies.

Departments also need to certify that their policies prohibit the use of chokeholds. The only exception is in situations where use of deadly force is permitted by law.

“What is needed now is not more stoking of fear and division. We need to bring law enforcement and communities closer together, not to drive them apart,” Trump said in signing the measure.

“Without police, there is chaos, without law there is anarchy and without safety there is catastrophe,” the president added.