Rep.Val Demings, D-Fla., on Sunday charged that the Department of Homeland Security, the intelligence community and military have become “politicized,” putting the nation at risk.
In an interview on CBS News’ “Face The Nation,” the former Orlando, Fla., police chief decried a shooting death during a clash between pro-Trump and Black Lives Matter demonstrators in Portland, Ore.
“This is exactly what happens when Homeland Security, the intelligence community, the military and others who were charged with protecting our homeland are politicized,” she said.
“Wouldn't it be nice for the president of the United States to take to the microphone or the airwaves and send a message for peace and calm, talking to the protesters, talking to the demonstrators, but also talking to those who come in and loot and steal and do harm, those who are on his side, his supporters who have come in and taken the lives of people trying to send a calming and peaceful message,” she said.
“And this is a time, more now than ever, that we need to hear from the president of the United States,” she added. “But the chaos and the disorder and the lawlessness that we are currently seeing, that's Donald Trump's America.”
Demings also said lawbreakers have to be held accountable, but that “we don't condemn people who are obeying the law because of those who do not obey the law.”
“We can do both and we have done both in this America, and that's what we need to do,” she said. “And we need the president of the United States to show some leadership during this situation.”
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