Wallace has contentious interview with GOP lawmaker: Aren’t you the ones defunding the police?

“Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace sparred with Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) over Banks’s vote against an emergency relief bill that would have allocated funds to police and first responders.

“Can’t you make the argument that it’s you and the Republicans who defunded the police?” Wallace asked Banks, who is the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee.

“Not at all, Chris. Let’s go back and look at the record over the last year, the comments that Democrats have made to [Rep.] Rashida Tlaib [D-Mich.],” Banks responded.

Fox News’ Chris Wallace to Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN):

“Congressman Banks, you voted against that [Rescue] package, against the $350B, just like every other Republican in the House & Senate — so can’t you make the argument that it’s you and Republicans who are defunding the police?” pic.twitter.com/mrttqMGLuG

— The Recount (@therecount) June 27, 2021

Wallace interrupted Banks, telling him that President Biden’s American Rescue Plan, which Banks voted against, would have given localities more money to hire police officers, invest in new technology and create new crime intervention programs. 

“I’ve heard your point about the last year,” Wallace said. “But you and every other Republican voted against this $350 billion.” 

“When Rep. [Ilhan] Omar [D-Minn.] says that policing is rooted in evil, and [Speaker] Nancy Pelosi [D-Calif.] compares police officers to Nazi storm troopers, it makes it very difficult for police departments around the country to recruit police officers,” Banks responded. 

Pelosi said in July that police in Portland, Ore., who wore no identifying emblems were causing severe injuries to protesters demonstrating against police brutality and in favor of racial justice, calling them “unidentified stormtroopers” and “Trump’s secret police.” 

Unidentified stormtroopers. Unmarked cars. Kidnapping protesters and causing severe injuries in response to graffiti.

These are not the actions of a democratic republic.@DHSgov’s actions in Portland undermine its mission.

Trump & his stormtroopers must be stopped.

— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) July 18, 2020

Wallace asked Banks about comments made earlier in the program by Cedric Richmond, a senior White House aide, suggesting that access to guns is the cause of rising crime rates in America, not the slashing of department budgets. 

“Is there any gun control that you can support?” Wallace asked Banks. 

“What I’m saying is if we are serious about reducing violent crime in America, then Joe Biden will go on a national public relations campaign to admonish the radical voices in the Democrat party that stigmatize police officers and law enforcement,” Banks said.