NBC’s Peter Alexander Grills Biden Spox Over Kamala Harris George Floyd Act Promise At Tyre Nichols Funeral: ‘Is It Negotiable?’

NBC News White House correspondent Peter Alexander grilled White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre over details of a promise that Vice President Kamala Harris made at the funeral of Tyre Nichols: that passing police reform is “non-negotiable!”

Here’s what the VP said during her eulogy Wednesday:

I was, as a senator — as a United States senator — a co-author of the original George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. (Applause.) And as Vice President of the United States, we demand that Congress pass the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act. (Applause.) Joe Biden will sign it. And we should not delay, and we will not be denied. It is non-negotiable! (Applause.)

At Thursday’s White House briefing, Alexander pressed Jean-Pierre repeatedly to explain whether the promise precluded accepting any reforms if they differ from the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in its current form:

PETER ALEXANDER: If I can ask you about the CBC meeting that’s happening this afternoon, as well. We heard during the Tyre Nichols service yesterday from the Vice President who said, of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, that it was, quote, “non-negotiable.”

Yesterday in our exchange, you said that the White House was open to supporting something as long as it was done in a bipartisan fashion. So is it non-negotiable that it must be the Justice in Policing Act as it exists? Or is the White House open to something that’s different than that if it’s done in a bipartisan form?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah, I think it’s — I don’t think they’re mutually exclusive. I think what she — what — what —

PETER ALEXANDER: Well, one could be different than the Justice in Policing Act —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Well, no, I think —

PETER ALEXANDER: — if it’s done in a bipartisan form.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: — I think what you saw very passionately from the Vice President — and I — I heard that part, I was — I watched her as well. I — what she was trying to say is: We need to get something done. Enough is enough. We need to get this done. We need to get a policy — a police reform that is transformational, that is actually going to bring forth real change. And the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act is part of that. It is one step in getting to a place where it is the law of the land.

That’s why the President has said, many times before, we need to take legislative action. We need Congress to act so that we can see change in states and in cities.

Right now, as you know — I just laid this out; I’ve laid it out yesterday, I laid it out just now — the President took executive action. But that’s on the federal gov — on the federal level and when you think about law enforcement in the federal level.

And so, look, what — what we heard from the Vice President was passion. What we heard from the Vice President yesterday was meeting the moment and being there for a family that is grieving, a family that had to watch a video of their child being — you know, being brutalized. And so she was there comforting and being passionate about an issue that is incredibly important to the President and, clearly, to her.

PETER ALEXANDER: I want to let others go, but just to be very clear: So, it — is it negotiable that there is something that achieves police reform if it does not come in the form of the Justice in Policing Act?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, what I can say is: The President — the President supported the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act last session. He supports it now, again. Right? He was very clear when he spoke to Tyre Nichols’s family — his mother and his stepdad. He said that he was going to do everything that he can to encourage and ask Congress to act. That still stays the same.

Now, he’s meeting with Congressional Black Caucus to see what can we do, how do we move forward. Sometimes — and this is a reality; we know how Congress works. Right? Sometimes it’s going to look different. And so that is okay — right? — if it’s going to look different.

But what we know — what we know that has been introduced in the past that is clearly available to us is the George Floyd and — Justice in Policing Act.

So, of course, we’re going to continue to call — call for that. But, you know, there’s going to be conversations, and we’ll see where those conversations go.

Watch above via C-SPAN.

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