Biden Condemns All Rioting, Says ‘I’m Waiting for the Day’ Trump Denounces Far Right Militias

Sarah RumpfSep 17th, 2020, 9:50 pm
 

At a CNN town hall in Pennsylvania, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden denounced the violence that had happened during some of the protests across the country, and then called out President Donald Trump for not offering the same level of condemnation against far-right and militia groups that he “incites.”

CNN’s Anderson Cooper hosted the town hall Thursday evening, and introduced a question from Bill Barrett, a retired police chief from Wilkes-Barre and city council member there, who was concerned about the “violence taking place in our cities across this country,” and “especially concerned about the lack of respect shown towards law enforcement officers and the military.”

Biden began by acknowledging that he had met Barrett before, when he was still chief of police and then addressed the question, seeking to distinguish between free speech and violence.

“First of all, protesting is one thing, the right to speak is one thing. Violence of any kind, no matter who it’s coming from, is wrong, and people should be held accountable,” said Biden, condemning violent acts like “burning down automobile lots, smashing windows, setting buildings on fire.”

“But here’s the deal,” Biden said, “I’ve condemned every form of violence, no matter what the source is.”

Trump, on the other hand, “has yet to condemn” the far-right and militia groups who had also contributed to unrest, Biden continued. “[Former White House adviser] Kellyanne Conway said — and I’m paraphrasing — ‘chaos and violence are good for our administration, they’re good for us.'”

Biden also pointed out how Trump is fond of criticizing “Joe Biden’s America” — “I’ve got to remind him, he’s president. I’m not the president. This is Donald Trump’s America. Do you feel safer in Donald Trump’s America when he incites these kinds of things?”

Violence, concluded Biden, is “wrong, no matter what the source is, where it comes from, I condemn it all, and people should be held accountable,” saying that he was “waiting for the day” that Trump did the same.

Watch the video above, via CNN.

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Sarah Rumpf - Contributing Editor

Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah's writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law & Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on the BBC, MSNBC, NewsNation, Fox 35 Orlando, Fox 7 Austin, The Young Turks, The Dean Obeidallah Show, and other television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe.