\u201cFour years ago, in this alley, rioters threw a brick at my face and knocked out my teeth. Why? Because I was a police officer. And what did Kamala Harris do? While America\u2019s cities were burning, Kamala was defending peaceful protests. She raised millions to help bail rioters out of jail. And supported defunding our police, making us all less safe. Kamala Harris is dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Scott Creighton, retired Minneapolis police officer, in an ad released by the pro-Trump group Preserve America PAC on Sept. 12<\/p>\n
Preserve America PAC, a pro-Trump group, appears to specialize in first-person accounts by people allegedly wronged by Vice President Kamala Harris.<\/p>\n
We previously looked at an ad featuring a woman whose son was killed by an undocumented immigrant in Texas \u2014 when Harris was district attorney for San Francisco. The new ad features a former police officer who says he was injured in the riots that erupted after Minneapolis police killed George Floyd. A similar ad, which features a police officer identified only as \u201cPaul,\u201d attacks her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, for his handling of the situation.<\/p>\n
These types of ads can be effective because personal testimony seems authentic. But, as the ad with the grieving mother does, Creighton makes misleading claims about Harris. The ad also does not mention that he was the first defense witness to testify for police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of murdering Floyd and sentenced to 22\u00bd years in prison.<\/p>\n
George Floyd was a Black man who was murdered on May 25, 2020, by Chauvin after he was arrested on suspicion of counterfeiting. Chauvin, in a scene recorded on video, knelt on Floyd\u2019s neck for more than nine minutes, asphyxiating him. Protests \u2014 and riots \u2014 erupted across the United States. In Minneapolis, a police station was burned to the ground, and Walz, the governor then as now, called in the National Guard on May 29 to restore order.<\/p>\n
Vandals caused property damage to more than 1,500 locations, with fires set at nearly 150 buildings, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Hundreds of officers left the force, and a number filed disability claims, including Creighton. He received $190,000 in worker compensation, according to WCCO, the local CBS News station.<\/p>\n
But police misconduct during the riots also was costly to the city. One man received a $2.4 million settlement after being hit with a rubber bullet during a protest. Videos, captured by police body cameras, documented officers speaking derisively about the demonstrators, the news media and Mayor Jacob Frey.<\/p>\n
Creighton was called by Chauvin\u2019s defense team because in 2019, not quite a year before Floyd\u2019s death, he had initiated a traffic stop and arrested Floyd, who had been in the passenger seat, for drug possession. \u201cThe passenger was unresponsive and uncompliant to my demands,\u201d Creighton testified. \u201cI then had to physically reach in because I wanted to see his hands.\u201d<\/p>\n
Creighton said he drew a gun on Floyd as he approached the vehicle and Floyd failed to place his hands on the dashboard. Another officer brandished a stun gun. But Creighton\u2019s testimony was undercut by his body-cam footage, which shows Creighton and another officer cursing and shouting at Floyd as they order him to show officers his hands. \u201cDon\u2019t shoot me, man!\u201d Floyd says to Creighton, who then pulls him from the car and handcuffs him.<\/p>\n
Asked why Creighton was chosen for this message, a Preserve America representative pointed to his statement that he was hit by a brick during the 2020 melee. Preserve America did not respond to a request to make Creighton available for an interview, and he could not be reached.<\/p>\n
Now let\u2019s look at his claims.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Kamala Harris do? While America\u2019s cities were burning, Kamala was defending peaceful protests.\u201d<\/p>\n
This tells half the story. Creighton ignores that Harris condemned the riots, even as she said people had a right to peacefully protest.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s no wonder people are taking to the streets, and I support them. We must always defend peaceful protest and peaceful protesters,\u201d Harris said after looting erupted in Kenosha, Wis., in August 2020. \u201cWe should not confuse them with those looting and committing acts of violence, including the shooter who was arrested for murder. And make no mistake, we will not let these vigilantes and extremists derail the path to justice.\u201d (She was referring to Kyle Rittenhouse, who fatally shot two people. He was acquitted of all charges after a trial in 2021.)<\/p>\n
Similarly, when riots erupted in Portland, Ore., in late August that year, Harris tweeted to a post by Joe Biden condemning the violence: \u201cI join @JoeBiden in condemning this violence. This cannot \u2014 and must not \u2014 be who we are. Americans deserve a president who will heal our country and bring people together \u2014 not fan the flames of hate and division.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robert O\u2019Brien, Donald Trump\u2019s national security adviser at the time, told CNN that Trump supported peaceful demonstrations, even as he pledged a crackdown on violence.<\/p>\n
We couldn\u2019t find a specific statement by Harris on the violence in Minneapolis, or even the protests, but she did have one tweet that is referenced in Creighton\u2019s next statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe raised millions to help bail rioters out of jail.\u201d<\/p>\n
This cannot be verified.<\/p>\n
Creighton is referring to a tweet, from then-Sen. Harris, on June 2, 2020, just weeks before Biden selected her as his running mate: \u201cIf you\u2019re able to, chip in now to the @MNFreedomFund to help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota.\u201d As of this week, the post had been retweeted 23,000 times.<\/p>\n
As we\u2019ve reported before, until Floyd\u2019s murder, the Minnesota Freedom Fund (MFF) was a relatively small vehicle for assisting people who needed cash for bail. The MFF\u2019s 2018 tax filing shows it raised only about $100,000 that year. Just weeks after Floyd\u2019s death, it raised $35 million \u2014 in part because of tweets such as the one by Harris. The fund initially had only about $10,000 set aside to help out protesters, MFF said in a tweet.<\/p>\n
Harris herself never personally bailed out anyone or had any interaction with the fund, the fund\u2019s interim director told the Sacramento Bee in 2021. Internet personalities such as Nikita Dragun and James Charles tweeted images of donations of $3,000 and $1,000, respectively, around the same time. Justin Timberlake also tweeted his support. There\u2019s no way to know how much money was raised because of Harris\u2019s tweet. The Preserve America source noted that her ActBlue fundraising page for the MFF remains live.<\/p>\n
In the end, few people involved in the protests needed the MFF\u2019s help to get out of jail. According to an accounting by the American Bail Coalition, verified by The Fact Checker with a review of Hennepin County jail records, all but three of the 170 people arrested during the protests between May 26 and June 2 were released from jail within a week. Of the 167 released, only 10 had to put up a monetary bond; in most cases, the amounts were nominal, such as $78 or $100. In fact, 92 percent of those arrested had to pay no bail \u2014 and 29 percent of those arrested did not face charges.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd supported defunding our police, making us all less safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is mostly false. Harris, a former prosecutor, never supported the \u201cdefund the police\u201d movement, though she called for \u201creimagining public safety\u201d in the United States. The ad cites an article in the New York Post reporting that Harris told ABC\u2019s \u201cGood Morning America\u201d that the movement posed legitimate questions about police budgets, but the Post acknowledged Harris \u201cstopped short\u201d of backing defunding.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefund the police\u201d was often misunderstood. It did not call for the outright elimination of police departments. Proponents by and large wanted to redirect some funds now spent on police forces to items such as education, public health, housing and youth services. The idea was that low-income communities would become stronger \u2014 and less in need of policing tactics \u2014 if root problems were addressed.<\/p>\n
Under this concept, some police officers would be replaced with trained social workers or specialized response teams in an effort to let police focus on violent crime, not drug overdoses or homelessness. The theory is that police would be better positioned to deal with rapes and murders if they were not required to deal with other social ills that sometimes lead to community confrontations with police.<\/p>\n
In several interviews in June 2020, Harris demurred when directly asked whether she supported \u201cdefund the police.\u201d But she also straddled the issue with her rhetoric on taking a fresh look at public safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to reimagine how we are achieving public safety in America,\u201d she said when Meghan McCain of \u201cThe View\u201d asked whether she supported the movement. \u201cTo have cities where one-third of their entire budget is going to policing, but yet there is a dire need in those same cities for mental health resources, for resources going into public schools, for resources going into job training and job creation \u2014 come on. We have to be honest about this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Appearing on MSNBC on June 8, 2020, to discuss a bill she co-sponsored that aimed to improve police practices and hold police accountable for egregious conduct, Harris was also asked about \u201cdefund the police.\u201d (The bill did not call for reducing police budgets.) Again, she offered similar rhetoric that fell short of supporting the movement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want police officers to be dealing with the homeless issue,\u201d she said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want police officers to be dealing with substance abuse and mental health. No \u2014 we should be putting those resources into our public health systems; we should be looking at our budgets and asking, \u2018Are we getting the best return on our investment as taxpayers?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Creighton certainly is an interesting choice to be a spokesman about the violent aftermath that resulted from Floyd\u2019s murder. His message is also flawed.<\/p>\n
He says she defended peaceful protests \u2014 which are protected by law \u2014 but fails to mention she condemned the violence. He makes an unverified claim that she raised millions to bail rioters out of jail. It\u2019s unclear how much of the money that was raised could be attributed to her \u2014 and in any case, few people arrested needed to put up money. Finally, he says she supported the \u201cdefund the police\u201d movement. She never embraced it, instead saying the movement raised good questions about how public safety could be best achieved.<\/p>\n
Overall, the ad earns Three Pinocchios.<\/p>\n
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\u201cFour years ago, in this alley, rioters threw a brick at my face and knocked out my teeth. Why? Because I was a police officer. And what did Kamala Harris do? While America\u2019s cities were burning, Kamala was defending peaceful protests. She raised millions to help bail rioters out of jail. And supported defunding our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":9610,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}