CLEVELAND — Former Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden was asked a direct question about the Breonna Taylor case at the first presidential debate of 2020.
The debate's moderator Chris Wallace, the anchor of FOX News Sunday, asked Biden this question:
"All right. I want to return to the question of race," Wallace said. "Vice President Biden, after the grand jury in the Breonna Taylor case decided not to charge any of the police with homicide, you said it raises the question, 'Whether justice could be equally applied in America?' Do you believe that there is a separate but unequal system of justice for Blacks in this country?"
Biden responded by saying, "Yes, there is. There’s systemic injustice in this country – in education and work and in law enforcement and the way in which it’s enforced."
"But look, the vast majority of police officers are good, decent, honorable men and women," Biden said. "They risk their lives every day to take care of us, but there are some bad apples. And when they occur, when they find them, they have to be sorted out. They have to be held accountable. They have to be held accountable.
"And what I’m going to do as president of the United States is call together an entire group of people at the White House, everything from the civil rights groups to the police officers, to the police chiefs, and we’re going to work this out. We’re going to work this out. So we changed the way in which we have more transparency, in when these things happen.
"These cops aren’t happy to see what happened to George Floyd. These cops aren’t happy to see what happened to Breonna Taylor. Most don’t like it, but we have to have a system where people are held accountable when. ... And by the way, violence in response is never appropriate, never appropriate. Peaceful protest is. Violence is never appropriate."
Wallace then turned to President Donald Trump.
"What is peaceful protest?" Trump said. "When they run through the middle of the town? ... And burn down your stores and kill people all over the place?"
"That is not peaceful protest," Biden said.
"No it’s not, but you say it is," Trump said.
