House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday said she absolutely will not apologize for saying Republicans were “trying to get away with murder … the murder of George Floyd” in the ongoing debate over rewriting U.S. policing laws.
“Absolutely, positively not,” Mrs. Pelosi said on MSNBC, saying the press has given Senate Republicans too much credit for their offer on policing legislation.
“They’re saying, ’well you have your bill. They have theirs.’ Yeah, our bill does something — theirs doesn’t,” said Mrs. Pelosi, California Democrat. “When you all in the press say well, can’t you compromise? No, we can’t compromise if you say ’no chokeholds’ and they say ’some chokeholds.’”
Senate Republicans’ bill provides incentives for law enforcement to ban practices such as chokeholds and calls for more reporting on the execution of “no-knock” warrants, while House Democrats’ bill includes outright bans on the practices.
“Their bill is a non-starter,” she said.
On Tuesday, Mrs. Pelosi said Republicans were trying to “get away with murder” in the ongoing push for new laws in the wake of the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police last month.
“So far, they were trying to get away with murder, actually — the murder of George Floyd,” she told CBS News.
Earlier Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader McConnell called it a “jaw-dropping” comment.
“Trying to get away with murder? The murder of George Floyd? That’s the speaker of the House accusing Senate Republicans of trying to get away with murder?” said Mr. McConnell, Kentucky Republican.
“Are you beginning to see how this game works?” he said.
He said two weeks ago, it was implied that the Senate would have “blood on our hands” if the chamber didn’t take up policing legislation.
Now, Mr. McConnell said, Democrats are saying Senate Republicans have blood on their hands because they’re trying to take it up.
“What fascinating times we live in,” he said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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