Politicians who want to defund the police won’t step foot in Minneapolis without their own personal security details.
U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar and Maxine Waters are both progressives who vocally support measures to defund the police. However, both of them used private security or an actual police escort when visiting Minnesota, the center of the defund movement.
Omar spent $3,103 on security in her home state in the first financial quarter of 2021, which spans from the beginning of the year through March, per Federal Election Commission records. One of the companies she hired, Aegis Logistics, provides armed and unarmed bodyguards. The other, Lloyd Security Services, provides video surveillance and intrusion detection — a vital service in a city that has experienced about 6,000 cases of theft so far this year after huge cuts to the the law enforcement budget.
Meanwhile, Omar has been adamant for months that her calls to “defund the police” are “not a slogan but a policy demand.” She even cheered on the Minneapolis City Council as it considered slashing $8 million of police funding, an effort which was eventually successful.
Waters went a step further than Omar when she requested an actual police escort before she landed in Minneapolis and openly encouraged rioters to commit violence. The congresswoman of 30 years even seems to have made this request through the U.S. Capitol Police, according to a document obtained by Townhall.
While Waters is affiliated with the defund movement, she recently captured headlines after she told protesters in the Minneapolis area to become more violent ahead of the Derek Chauvin verdict.
“We got to stay on the street, we’ve got to get more active, we’ve got to get more confrontational, we got to make sure that they know we mean business,” she said. Hours later, criminals opened fire on the Minnesota National Guard.
Rep. Maxine Waters showed up at the protest tonight in Brooklyn Center, telling people "we've got to get more confrontational" and suggesting they should ignore the curfew. pic.twitter.com/4FcfhIoaJf
— Alpha News (@AlphaNewsMN) April 18, 2021
Omar and Waters are not alone in hiring private security when in Minneapolis. Last year, three members of the Minneapolis City Council racked up a $152,400 security bill for taxpayers to pay as they worked to disband the Minneapolis Police Department.
Other high profile left-wingers have also demonstrated apparent hypocrisy in recent days.
Al Sharpton drew criticism after he posted a video boarding a private jet on his way to Minneapolis to spur on liberal activists one day before the Chauvin verdict was announced and deliver the eulogy at Daunte Wright’s funeral. The Wright funeral also featured armed private security.
Wright was recently shot by a police officer in an apparent accident after he resisted arrest during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center.
Headed to Minneapolis to stand with the Floyd family as closing arguments are set to be made today. pic.twitter.com/kkS9KtHzq1
— Reverend Al Sharpton (@TheRevAl) April 19, 2021
Kyle Hooten
Kyle Hooten is Managing Editor of Alpha News. His coverage of Minneapolis has been featured on television shows like Tucker Carlson Tonight and in print media outlets like the Wall Street Journal.
