South Carolina’s Sen. Lindsey Graham, a vocal critic of President Joe Biden’s anti-crime proposals, “doesn’t have a clue” about how to stop rising violence in the U.S., a top White House adviser said Sunday.
Graham and his fellow Republicans in fact are complicit in fueling the nation’s crime wave, Biden senior adviser Cedric Richmond said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Republicans who objected to emergency relief for financially stricken cities and local governments forced to lay off police and other first responders during the pandemic have themselves to blame, said Richmond, a former Louisiana congressman.
“Republicans are very good at staying on talking points of who says defund the police, but the truth is, they defunded the police,” he said.
Biden last week announced a plan to stem crime by providing money for cities to pay for police, promoting anti-violence community programs and cracking down on the availability of illegal guns.
Graham derided the president’s plan, calling the Democratic Party “anti-cop” and blaming “the liberal left” for declaring a “war on the police” that is driving up crime.
“Sen. Graham doesn’t have a clue,” Richmond said in response.
“You have to look at access to guns when you talk about fighting violent crime,” he said. “That’s guns causing that increase.”
Last week, the Justice Department announced plans to deploy anti-gun trafficking strike forces to New York and four other major U.S. cities where gun violence has been steadily on the rise over the past 18 months.
Gun violence has swept New York since it began relaxing coronavirus restrictions this spring.
Shootings in the city were up 73% in May compared with the same period in 2020, according to NYPD data, and overall crime rose 22% in the same time span.
