Trump Steers Clear From Details on Police Reform But Denounces Defunding Efforts

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP has largely dodged addressing calls for police reforms sparked by the death of George Floyd, though on Monday he spoke out against growing demands from protesters to defund police departments.

“There won’t be defunding, there won’t be dismantling of our police,” Trump said at a meeting with law enforcement officials at the White House.

Trump’s strong promise to the officials came on the afternoon of Floyd’s casket viewing in his hometown of Houston. Floyd died in Minneapolis after a police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

“We want to make sure we don’t have any bad actors in there. Sometimes you’ll see some horrible things like we witnessed recently, but … let’s go with 99% of them are great, great people,” Trump said.

The president’s comments come after members of the Minneapolis City Council said they have the votes to dismantle the city’s police department and “recreate systems of public safety.”

Trump said that cities considering defunding and dismantling police forces are going to be in “a very sad situation if they did, because people aren’t going to be protected.”

“There’s not going to be any disbanding of our police. Our police have been letting us live in peace,” Trump said.

The meeting with law enforcement officials and the pledges Trump made to them on Monday send a message that the president stands with them. He promised to work with the enforcement officers to talk through ideas, though he was light on specifics.

“We’re going to work, and we’re going to talk about ideas, how we can do it better and how we can do it, if possible, in a much more gentle fashion,” Trump said.

When White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Monday was asked about what reform measures Trump could support, she said he is “talking through a number of proposals” without offering any details.