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Talarico campaign denies defunding police support after 2020 remarks resurface
Коротко
CNN reported previously unreported 2020 remarks in which Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico told a progressive youth group it was “rich” that “defund the police” was considered off-limits in political debate. His campaign told Fox News Digital that Talarico “did not call for and does not support defunding the police,” saying critics took the comments out of context, and CNN reported the campaign calls the claim that he supported defunding a “flat-out lie.”
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Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico's campaign is denying that he ever supported the “defund the police” movement after 2020 remarks on the debate resurfaced, according to CNN, Fox News and the New York Post. CNN reported the remarks were previously unreported and came from a late-summer 2020 virtual discussion with Texas Rising, a progressive advocacy group that at the time was calling for police departments to be defunded and for more investment in community-based alternatives. [ 1 , 2 , 4 ]
“As an educator, it's always rich to me that ‘defund the police' is considered off-limits in our political debate, when defunding health services, defunding public education has been the stated policy of our state government for decades now,” Talarico told the activists, according to CNN and repeated by Fox News and the New York Post. CNN reported he was answering a question on how to talk to unfamiliar audiences about investing in communities instead of policing, and that he acknowledged the slogan was getting people “all riled up” in his swing district, which he noted had not elected a Democrat since he was a child. He argued that when people are asked whether armed police officers should respond to minor traffic accidents or mental-health crises, “most people kind of understand that that's not what we should be using police officers for,” CNN reported. [ 1 , 2 , 4 ]
Talarico campaign spokesperson JT Ennis told Fox News Digital that “James did not call for and does not support defunding the police, and he strongly supports Texas law enforcement and first responders,” saying critics had taken the comments out of context after they resurfaced Monday, according to Fox News and the New York Post. CNN reported the campaign calls it a “flat-out lie” that Talarico ever supported defunding the police and points to his votes for state appropriations bills that increased funding for law enforcement. [ 1 , 2 , 4 ]
CNN reported that in a separate September 2020 interview with the local publication Honest Austin, Talarico addressed the movement when asked directly, saying, “Our system of policing is deeply broken. We must replace it with something new and something better,” before questioning whether armed officers were needed for every emergency. Fox News and the New York Post repeated that quote, attributing it to CNN. [ 1 , 2 , 4 ]
The outlets describe the episode differently: CNN reported the 2020 remarks as previously unreported and followed up with a KFile piece on uncovering his past comments, while Fox News and the New York Post said a video of the Texas Rising discussion resurfaced and framed the story as Talarico being put “on defense.” Talarico, then a Texas Democratic state representative, is now running for the US Senate. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]
Почему это важно
The remarks give Talarico's opponents a line of attack in a US Senate race in Texas, where his campaign is presenting him as a supporter of law enforcement. The coverage shows how a 2020 slogan is still being used in a 2026 campaign, and how the campaign is trying to separate his arguments about policing from the “defund” label.
Ключевые факты
- CNN reported previously unreported remarks James Talarico made in late summer 2020 to Texas Rising, a progressive advocacy group that at the time was calling for police departments to be defunded. [ 1 ]
- In the discussion, Talarico said it was “rich” that “defund the police” was considered off-limits when Texas had spent decades defunding public education and health services. [ 1 , 2 , 4 ]
- Talarico acknowledged the slogan was getting people “all riled up” in his swing district but argued voters understood armed officers should not respond to minor traffic accidents or mental-health crises. [ 1 , 2 , 4 ]
- Talarico campaign spokesperson JT Ennis told Fox News Digital that Talarico “did not call for and does not support defunding the police” and “strongly supports Texas law enforcement and first responders.” [ 2 , 4 ]
- CNN reported the campaign calls it a “flat-out lie” that Talarico ever supported defunding the police and points to his votes for state appropriations bills that increased law enforcement funding. [ 1 ]
- CNN reported that in a separate September 2020 interview with Honest Austin, Talarico said, “Our system of policing is deeply broken. We must replace it with something new and something better.” [ 1 , 2 , 4 ]
- Talarico is running for the US Senate in Texas as the Democratic nominee. [ 1 , 2 , 4 ]
Подтверждено несколькими источниками
- Talarico made the remarks about “defund the police” being considered off-limits during a 2020 virtual discussion with the progressive group Texas Rising. [ 1 , 2 , 4 ]
- In that discussion Talarico argued that voters were receptive when asked whether armed officers should respond to minor traffic accidents or mental-health crises. [ 1 , 2 , 4 ]
- The Talarico campaign denies that he supported defunding the police and says the comments were taken out of context. [ 1 , 2 , 4 ]
- Talarico is the Democratic nominee for the US Senate in Texas. [ 1 , 2 , 4 ]
- CNN reported that in a September 2020 interview with Honest Austin, Talarico said the system of policing is “deeply broken” and “we must replace it with something new and something better.” [ 1 , 2 , 4 ]
Пока неясно
- Whether Talarico supported the “defund the police” movement in 2020. The campaign denies it and says the remarks were taken out of context, while the quoted 2020 remarks do not explicitly endorse the slogan; the documents present the dispute without resolving it.
- Whether the video and remarks had been reported before. CNN describes the remarks as previously unreported, while Fox News and the New York Post say a video resurfaced Monday, without saying where it had appeared before.
- The full context of the Texas Rising discussion and any other remarks Talarico made in it. All documents quote only short excerpts from the 2020 discussion.
- Who recorded or circulated the video and how it reached the outlets. The documents say the remarks resurfaced but do not identify the source of the video.
Что пишут местные СМИ
Хронология, местное время
- CNN publishes a report on previously unreported 2020 remarks by James Talarico on the “defund the police” debate and the campaign's response. [ 1 ]
- Fox News reports the resurfaced remarks and the campaign denial, quoting spokesperson JT Ennis. [ 2 ]
- CNN's KFile publishes a piece on uncovering Talarico's past comments on the defund police movement. [ 3 ]
- The New York Post reports the resurfaced 2020 comments and the campaign's response. [ 4 ]