White House defends Trump's dismissal of police violence against Black people

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Thursday defended Donald Trump’s inaccurate claim that “more white people” are killed by police than Black people.

Asked about Trump’s assertion, McEnany told reporters that Trump was noting a “fact.” She then cited unsourced statistics regarding police shootings.

“You had 9 unarmed Black individuals who were fatally shot and 19 unarmed white individuals,” McEnany said. She did note that Black people are a much smaller percentage of the population, undermining her own defense.

Multiple studies have previously shown that Black people in the United States are as much as six times more likely to be killed by police than white people.

From a July 16 press briefing:

WEIJIA JIANG, CBS News: In an interview with CBS News, President Trump said more white people are killed as an answer to why Black people are still being killed by police officers. But by population percentages, Black people are about three times more likely than white people to die in a police encounter.

 

If the president won’t even acknowledge that, how can he fix the problem?

 

KAYLEIGH McENANY: The president has routinely acknowledged and expressed the absolute atrocity of the case of George Floyd and his heart goes out to that family still.

 

He was noting a fact that there were — when you look at unarmed killings with police interactions in this country, that you had 9 unarmed Black individuals who were fatally shot and 19 unarmed white individuals. That’s down from 38 and 32, respectively, in 2015.

 

So, the numbers have actually come down since the Obama administration, he was making that point. But one point he wants to strongly make is this: That Black men and women who die of homicide, they’re as likely to die of homicide at eight times greater than that of white individuals and Hispanics, combined. That’s the rate combined.

 

So, that’s an extraordinary thing that we want to look at. I’ve listed for you the names of these kids who’ve died across this country, it is unacceptable, and under this president, he’ll take action and the derelict mayor of Chicago should step up and ask for federal help, because she’s doing a very poor job at securing her streets.

 

JIANG: But we’re talking about people who are dying at the hands of police officers.

 

McENANY (to another reporter): Yes. Yes.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.