Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Dan Bogino, a former NYPD and U.S. Secret Service agent, clashed Wednesday over the “Black Lives Matter” movement.
At the House Judiciary Committee hearing on policing, Mr. Jeffries, New York Democrat, listed a number of Black Americans killed by police officers before asking Mr. Bongino to confirm a number of mass shooters, who were white, were not harmed in being arrested.
“I’m not sure where you’re going with this,” Mr. Bongino, a conservative pundit, said, noting that those individuals were “awful.” “I don’t know why you’re making a racial thing out of this.”
“Because Black lives matter, sir,” Mr. Jeffries countered.
“Yeah, all lives matter, sir. White, Black, Asian — everyone,” Mr. Bongino shot back.
Mr. Jeffries argued that the disparity in treatment in these cases proved that, at least in part, the issue of police brutality is connected to racism.
“You have heavily armed mass murderers in places like Aurora, Charleston and El Paso somehow apprehended by police without incident, that’s the point,” he said. “Innocent, unarmed are repeatedly killed in police encounter after police encounter.”
Mr. Bongino, a conservative podcast host, has long criticized the larger Black Lives Matter movement and used his time with lawmakers Wednesday to strongly denounce the calls from the far-left to abolish or defund police departments.
In his opening statement to lawmakers, Mr. Bongino acknowledged that there some officers who “aren’t suited for the job.”
“Black families matter to me too,” he said later in the hearing, arguing his words were being misconstrued.
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