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President Trump said “in general” he supports a ban on choke holds for police officers, but that in some cases they may be necessary.
“I don't like chokeholds,” the President said during an interview with Fox News that aired Friday. “I will say this, as somebody who — you grow up and you wrestle and you fight, or you see what happens, sometimes if you are alone and fighting somebody, it is tough. And you get somebody in a chokehold, what are you going to do? And it's a real bad person, and you know that, and they do exist. I mean, we have some real bad people.”
“You’ve got somebody in a chokehold, what are you going to do?,” Trump continued. “Let go and say, ‘let's start over, I’m not allowed to have you in a chokehold?’ it's a tough situation.”
“I think the concept of chokeholds sounds so innocent and so perfect. If it's two on one, that's a bit of a different story, depending,” he said. “I think it would be a very good thing, generally speaking, it should be ended.”
Regulations on police officers performing chokeholds could be local, the President said, but the federal government, “can certainly make recommendations, and very strong recommendations.”
The President's comments come as Democrats and Republicans in Congress are working on legislative proposals aimed at curbing police brutality and misconduct. The top Republican in the US House of Representatives said Thursday he would support a chokehold ban, a proposal currently included in the House Democrats' draft bill.
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