JD Vance Slams Anti-Police Sentiment, Tells Officers Trump Admin. 'Stands Behind You'

Forbes Breaking News

Vice President JD Vance hosts a National Police Week breakfast at the Vice President’s Residence.

Transcript

00:00Good to see you, gentlemen, how we doing? Good morning, guys.

00:12Clegg, how we doing? Good, Mr. Vice President. We're looking forward to you cutting the

00:16ribbing at our new training village for our police department. Yeah, we're looking forward

00:19to it too. Hey guys, how we doing? Well, okay, let me say a few words of welcome here. Please

00:24take your seats. And let me just say a few things here. First of all, this is a, you know,

00:33National Police Week is a big thing, as I learned in the United States Senate. It's in a lot

00:36of ways a very celebratory occasion because you guys get to come to town and spend some

00:40time with the legislators, but it's also very good for the legislators and even vice presidents

00:44to be able to get to spend some time with the law enforcement officers to keep us safe,

00:48to understand what issues you care about. And let me just say that the president is in the

00:53Middle East right now. I believe he just landed in Qatar just a few hours ago. But we love

00:58you guys, and we're grateful for the job that you do. And our administration has made a very

01:03proud commitment to stand by American law enforcement. Paul, good to see you, man. We got the whole

01:08crew here. This is really the all-star crew. But if you think about what that means, there's

01:13a policy component to it, and I think there's just a moral leadership component to it. The policy

01:18component is we want to make it easier for police officers to do their jobs. We want to make

01:22it harder for people to sue police officers when they're acting appropriately in the line of duty.

01:28We want to make it sure so that when you guys are out there keeping us safe and you're, of course,

01:32worried about all the bad guys, you're not also worried about bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.

01:36preventing you from doing the job that the American people need you to do. That is the substance

01:41of the executive order the president signed just a few weeks ago. That's the substance of a lot of

01:46our commitments to our law enforcement. But there's also, you know, less about policy and more about

01:51moral leadership. And, you know, as I said earlier, this is a very celebratory occasion. We'd love to

01:56have you guys here. This is a big week on Capitol Hill, as I remember from my time in the Senate.

02:01But this is also for me, and I imagine for a lot of you, I know for Dan, a very solemn moment,

02:05because just a few days ago, we lost an officer in Cincinnati. And the story there is actually worth

02:11telling in full because it's worth appreciating exactly what happened. I actually first heard about this

02:15from my wife, our lovely second lady, who told me that, you know, a few weeks ago, I guess, a man was

02:23killed by a police officer. The police officer, the body cam footage showed, was totally justified. He was

02:28doing his job and keeping the people of Cincinnati safe. And the gentleman who was killed, his father

02:34started to hate police because of it. And maybe he already hated police before then, but he decided he

02:40wanted to take revenge on police, not even on the officer who took the life of his son, but on a

02:45totally different police officer just to exact revenge against the police in that area of the

02:51country, which of course is my hometown. And what happened is a police officer who had just actually

02:56retired, but returned to special duty in the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department. He was helping

03:02people at the University of Cincinnati when he was mowed down by a bloodthirsty criminal who exacted

03:09revenge for something a police officer was actually legally entitled to do. And that of course is,

03:16and I want to make sure I get his name right, that's Deputy Henderson, Larry Henderson, who lost

03:21Larry Henderson, who lost his life because he was doing his job and keeping people safe. And when I think

03:27about why that senseless crime happened, obviously you've got to place blame on the guy who committed

03:31the crime. But I also think a lot of the blame falls on American leadership, who for too long have made

03:37our police officers out to be enemies instead of the great public servants that all of us know that

03:42they are. So know from the president on down, this administration stands behind you guys. We love you

03:47guys. We know that you're out there doing a good job for us. And I think that moral leadership matters

03:53just as much as the public policy. But from this administration, you're of course getting it both.

03:58So thank you all. And I'm looking forward to the conversation. I want to give a couple of shout outs

04:02here because this is a very special day for me for a couple of reasons. Number one, we've got the

04:07great Mac here, who today becomes, right, it's very, it's today, becomes the leader of the uniform

04:13division of the Secret Service, which is a very, very big deal.

04:24And your guys and gals do a great job for us, and we're grateful to them, but obviously for your

04:28leadership as well. We've got the great Paul Perez here, who represents our border patrol and border

04:33patrol officers.

04:38I thought we had, somebody told me we had Jeff Simpson, but I don't see Jeff. Is Jeff here?

04:42Okay, he wasn't able to make it. Okay. Well, maybe he's watching on TV, Jeff. I'm sorry you

04:47couldn't make it, but we're thrilled to have you here. And then Dan Hillis from my hometown of

04:51Cincinnati, Dan. It's good to see you, man. And please give Deputy Henderson's family our best.

04:54And then a couple of other folks I want to shout out. So I believe we have Lieutenants Hudson and

05:00Jarbo. Lieutenant Hudson, where are you? Okay, great. And Jarbo, there you are. So these guys

05:05actually, think about the trade that these guys make. So they are the most active participants,

05:11I believe, in the motorcades that we do all around Washington, D.C. And if you think about it,

05:15every single day, rain or shine, in freezing cold weather, they get out there, they keep us safe,

05:19they clear traffic, they make it possible for me to do the job that I do. Again, they're on duty

05:23every day helping us. And that's what I get out of this relationship. And out of this

05:28relationship, you guys get free breakfast one day at the evening. So I think that I'm the winner

05:32in the grand scheme of things. But we appreciate your service. And to all of you guys, I can't give

05:37everybody a shout out, but we're really thrilled to have you and really grateful for the work that

05:41you do. So before we eat, I want to do this proper here. I want to introduce, let me get the name

05:47here, right. Where do we have Lieutenant Joe Gamaldi. Where's Lieutenant Gamaldi? Joe, thank you.

05:57Come on up here and give us a blessing before we eat. And everybody, enjoy your breakfast. And thanks

06:01for joining us at our home. God bless you.

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