NatSec Adviser O’Brien: ‘I Don’t Think There’s Systemic Racism’ in Law Enforcement, ‘Bad Apples’ Need to Be Rooted Out

White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien said on CNN Sunday morning he doesn’t think there’s systemic racism in U.S. law enforcement, just “bad apples” that need to be rooted out.

The killing of George Floyd has led to protests and riots across the country over the past few days. On State of the Union, Tapper asked, “George Floyd is hardly the only unarmed black man killed by police. Do you think systemic racism is a problem in law enforcement agencies in the United States?”

“No, I don’t think there’s systemic racism,” O’Brien answered. “I think 99.9% of our law enforcement officers are great Americans and many of them are African-American, Hispanic, Asian. They’re working the toughest neighborhoods, they’ve got the hardest jobs to do in this country, and I think they’re amazing, great Americans, and they’re my heroes, but you know what, there are some bad apples in there.”

O’Brien said there’s certainly “bad cops that are racist” and cops who “maybe don’t have the right training,” telling Tapper those “bad apples” need to be rooted out because “they’ve giving law enforcement a terrible name.”

He called out “the dirty cop that killed George Floyd” in particular, bringing up the recent scrutiny into the officer and asking, “Why was he still on the force?”

You can watch above, via CNN.