President Trump pledged more money for police in riot-torn Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Tuesday, authorizing $1 million in federal aid for the embattled city police department and $42 million statewide to bolster criminal prosecutions.
“We must give far greater support to our law enforcement,” Mr. Trump said in a meeting with local and state officials. “We have to help them do their jobs.”
The president praised local law enforcement and the National Guard for putting an end to the street violence relatively quickly, unlike monthslong civil unrest in cities such as Portland, Oregon.
“We’re all in this together,” the president said. “People want law and order. They want [a] great police force. They want people that are going to keep them safe, where their houses aren’t broken into and where they’re not raped and murdered. That’s what they want. And they’re protesters, too, but they don’t walk up and down the street.”
Criticizing liberals’ calls to “defund” police departments in the wake of a series of shootings of Black suspects, Mr. Trump said what’s really needed is more money for law enforcement.
“Some of it [state aid] will be for dismantling Antifa — we’re doing a very big number on Antifa,” the president said.
He also said the government will provide $4 million for city businesses that have been destroyed or damaged in rioting that followed the police shooting on Aug. 23 of Jacob Blake, a Black man.
Attorney General William P. Barr said cases of alleged police brutality or wrongful use of force must be adjudicated through standard due process.
“We do not allow judgments to be reached because of mob violence,” Mr. Barr said.
Mr. Trump said the few “bad apples” on police forces “will be taken care of through the system.”
“The choke sometimes,” Mr. Trump said. “If they make a wrong decision one way or the other, they’re either dead or they’re in big trouble. The vast majority of police officers are honorable, courageous and devoted public servants.”
The president’s visit sparked both protests and shows of support in Kenosha. The Democratic mayor and governor had asked him to stay away.
People along his motorcade route waved American flags, some “Blue Lives Matter” banners, Trump campaign signs and some “Black Lives Matter” signs.
At a stop at a burned-out building where the air still smelled of smoke, the president conferred with two local officials while a nearby group of angry protesters made obscene gestures at him.
Mr. Blake’s uncle, Justin, disputed authorities’ account of the shooting on Aug. 23, saying his nephew “had no weapon” and is now paralyzed in a hospital. He said the family did not want to speak to the president, whom he called “the orange man.”
“All I ask is that he keep his disrespect, his foul language far away from our family,” Justin Blake said. “We need a president that’s going to unite our country and take us in a different direction.”
