WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Monday pledged to maintain funding for police departments in the United States amid growing calls for sweeping cuts to law enforcement budgets as protesters clamoured for an end to police brutality following the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis last month.
"We want to make sure we don't have any bad actors in there ... but 99 per cent ... of them are great great people and have done jobs that are record setting." But moderate Democrats have distanced themselves from the proposal, including presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was jeered by protesters over the weekend after telling them he opposed their demands for cuts in the city's police department.
On Monday, Democrats in Congress unveiled legislation that would make lynching a hate crime and allow victims of police and their families to sue police for damages in civil court, ending a legal doctrine known as qualified immunity.