'Let's go!': Trump snaps when pushed on false claim about Biden and police

Biden-Sanders agreement proposes more funding for police, not less, and never calls for abolishing law enforcement agencies

Donald Trump testily lashed out at Chris Wallace after the Fox News Sunday host, during an interview to air this weekend, called out the president's false statement that Joe Biden wants to defund all police departments.

"Let's go!" the president said forcefully, appearing to look at off-camera staff and give an order for someone to retrieve a Democratic document he had just misquoted.

"Get me the charter, please," a clearly agitated Mr Trump said.

At the end of the brief-but-testy exchange, Mr Wallace looks bemused as he simply says, "Alright..."

At issue in a 46-second clip posted online by Fox is a policy pact the former vice president and Senator Bernie Sanders, the progressive Vermont senator who was his final primary foe, released recently. Mr Trump falsely claims in the brief snippet of the interview that Mr Biden and Mr Sanders said in that document they want to "defund" and "abolish" police departments.

The Independent conducted several electronic searches of the Biden-Sanders document. At no point does it call for abolishing or defunding any law enforcement entity. Quite the opposite, in fact. (You can search it here.)

At several points, it calls for more funding for police.

But that has not stopped Mr Trump from saying Mr Biden and all Democratic politicians want to strip funding from police departments and shut them down. He paints an embellished image of a "lawless" United States.

Democrats stumbled, analysts say, by initially repeating black activists "defund the police" slogan during protests after the murder of George Floyd, a black man, in the custody of white police officers. Democrats scrambled to say they merely want to take some funding from cops and give it to other social programmes.

Nevertheless, Mr Trump pounced, sensing an issue on which he could win back suburban and senior voters. He tried to repeat his contention in the Fox News Sunday interview, but Mr Wallace pushed back.

"Biden wants to defund the police," Mr Trump said.

"Sir, he does not," the FNS host shot back.

"Look, he signed a charter with Bernie Sanders," the president said.

"It says nothing about defunding the police," Mr Wallace said.

"Oh really?" Mr Trump replied. "It say abolish... Get me the charter, please."

The two Democrats state they want to "reimagine policing for the benefit and safety of the American people.

"In recent years, some innovative police departments have enacted evidence-based reforms to change their approach: investing in robust training and putting in place -- and, even more crucially, enforcing -- strong standards governing conflict resolution, de-escalation, and use of force," the write. "We must build on these evidence-based approaches and implement them nationwide."

In another section, they propose boosting funding for officer health.

The document does use the word "abolish" several times, but that is for other things such as ending the death penalty.