During an interview with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Face the Nation moderator John Dickerson rushed to defend the Black Lives Matter movement after the Republican presidential candidate criticized the group for calling for the murder of police officers.
After Christie said Black Lives Matter should not be “justified” over their anti-police rhetoric, the CBS anchor tried to defend the movement as a whole and argued that only “individuals have” called the for the murder of police.
Dickerson went to far as to claim that BLM was “not calling for the murder of police officers” but Christie had to correct the CBS host and explained “[s]ure they are. They’ve been chanting in the streets for the murder of police officers.”
Despite Dickerson trying to distinguish between individuals associated with BLM calling for the killing of police versus the entire movement, Christie pushed back and even suggested that President Obama has unjustly legitimized BLM:
Listen, John, that's what the movement is creating. And the president of the United States is justifying that but not only that he hasn't backed up police officers from the minute he's gotten into office...That type of lawlessness sets a tone, and then when you have liberal mayors like Bill de Blasio in New York, who are basically tying one hand behind the back of police officers, and then we have folks, the murder rate up 11%, police officers in New York City being murdered.
See relevant transcript below.
CBS’s Face the Nation
October 25, 2015
JOHN DICKERSON: As Governor of New Jersey you deal with police and crime issues. FBI Director James Comey said something interesting, he suggested that police across the country may be more reluctant to crackdown on crime because of what’s the so-called Ferguson Effect-- named after the Michael Brown murder in Ferguson, Missouri. Do you see any of that in New Jersey, that reticence, because it’s now become such a politicized issue?
CHRIS CHRISTIE: I don't see it in New Jersey because the leader of New Jersey tells the police officers to go out and do their job without exception.DICKERSON: And they're doing it?
CHRISTIE: And they are. And you've seen it in city like Camden where in the last three years after we replaced the police department there John and backed them up completely, all the political folks, murder rate is down 61% in the last three years in Camden. Yet you see murders up 19% in Chicago and up 11% in New York and the murder of police officer. The problem is this, there’s lawlessness in this country, the president encourages this lawlessness, he encourages it.
DICKERSON: Encourages it how?
CHRISTIE: By his own rhetoric. He does not support the police, he doesn't back up the police, he justifies Black Lives Matter.
DICKERSON: Black Lives Matter shouldn’t be justified at all?
CHRISTIE: Listen, I don't believe that that movement should be justified when they’re calling for the murder of police officers, no.
DICKERSON: But they’re not calling for the murder of police officers.
CHRISTIE: Sure they are. They’ve been chanting in the streets for the murder of police officers.
DICKERSON: Well, individuals have. But the Black Lives Matters is about–
CHRISTIE: Listen, John, that's what the movement is creating. And the president of the United States is justifying that but not only that he hasn't backed up police officers from the minute he's gotten into office. And we can cite instance after instance, and there's lawlessness about no sanctuary cities. We should not have sanctuary cities in this country. The president countenances that. That type of lawlessness sets a tone, and then when you have liberal mayors like Bill de Blasio in New York, who are basically tying one hand behind the back of police officers, and then we have folks, the murder rate up 11%, police officers in New York City being murdered.
Let me tell you very clearly, I'll be president who will back up law enforcement, back up the police officers because I was a law enforcement officer I know how hard these jobs are. They need to be backed up. When there are bad cops they need to be prosecuted like there are bad lawyers and bad doctors and bad engineers. They all need to be prosecuted when they do something wrong. But our police officers are putting their lives on the line every day, let’s back them up so we can end the real violence in this country which is happening in the streets of our cities all across this country.
