Joe Biden Talks Defunding The Police on 'The Daily Show'

Joe Biden and The Daily Show host, Trevor Noah chat about Biden's views on police reform, defunding the police and more.

Protesting against police brutality has become the norm over the past few weeks as the United States has been battling following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Since police reform has been a popular subject recently, especially online Trevor Noah questioned former vice president Joe Biden about his thoughts on it in the latest episode of The Daily Show. 

In the beginning of the interview, Biden made it clear that he doesn’t support defunding the police, but he is in favor of police reform. Noah asked, “What does that actually mean?” "Because some people think that you cannot reform an institution that is fundamentally rotten in the core,” he added.

Biden on why he doesn't believe police should be defunded:

"Well, I don't think it's rotten in the core. And I don't think all cops are bad cops, but I think... Look, 90 percent of all the funding for the police comes from local taxpayers. So, the federal government under our system cannot, other than taking a civil rights action, say they do A, B, C, and D. But what we can do is we can make sure we insist [that] certain fundamental changes take place now, including making sure there's sensitivity training, making sure that all of cops' past transgressions are all made public. Because we can say, if you don't, we're not gonna provide the federal funding that we provide for you through what we call Byrne grants and cop grants."

One poignant moment during The Daily Show included Noah asking Biden whether or not trained officials rather than police should respond to mental health crises and instances where drug abuse is involved. The 2020 presidential candidate noted here that his daughter is a social worker. He added that the idea that she’d respond to a 9-1-1 call alone doesn’t make sense. Biden then said police should be treated “second in those circumstances” and should “go with people who are mental health experts.”

Biden later shared his “single greatest concern” for the upcoming election against Donald Trump is election fraud. Noah also questioned how Biden is preparing to deal with battling with someone who can be volatile. "The thing we're doing is calling out every lie he in fact is saying," Biden said. "We're calling out and making a case that this guy is not a good guy."

Take a look at The Daily Show clips below.