Politics

Joe Biden Will Visit Kenosha Following Trump’s Visit

Joe Biden speaks during the Democratic debate hosted by ABC on Sept. 12, 2019. (YouTube/Screenshot)

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will visit Kenosha, Wisconsin Thursday, his campaign announced Wednesday.

The former vice president and his wife, Jill Biden, will hold a “community meeting” in Kenosha Thursday in hopes that it will “bring together Americans to heal and address the challenges we face,” Axios reports.

The Bidens will then make a stop at an undisclosed location in the city, according to the publication.

“I want to be very clear,” Biden said in a speech earlier this week, Axios reported. “Rioting is not protesting. Looting is not protesting. Setting fires is not protesting. None of this is protesting. It’s lawlessness. Plain and simple. And those who do it should be prosecuted.”

“I want a safe America,” he added. “Safe from COVID. Safe from crime and looting, safe from racially-motivated violence, safe from bad cops. Let me be crystal clear. Safe from four more years of Donald Trump.”

Rioting in Kenosha came after Jacob Blake was shot in the back by a police officer, video footage appears to show. Blake’s family said that he is partially paralyzed and the incident has spurred riots and protests for the past several nights in Wisconsin where two people were killed the night of Aug. 25.

President Donald Trump visited Kenosha Tuesday where he met with local leaders about maintaining the city’s safety and viewed the damage to the city caused by nights of rioting.

Biden’s campaign spokeswoman Symone Sanders said Tuesday that the 2020 presidential candidate would not immediately visit Kenosha.

“Vice President Biden is looking forward to getting to Wisconsin very soon, it’s a priority for us,” Sanders said Tuesday on CNN. “Look, he doesn’t want to do anything that would create a tussle, if you will, on the ground. He doesn’t want to do anything that would upset … the peaceful nature of what’s currently happening in Kenosha but also throughout the state at large.”

“Look, we have heard the president over the last couple of days, throughout the Republican National Convention talk about violence … So he’s not going to be a calming voice in Kenosha, Wisconsin, today,” Sanders added. “He’s going to do nothing but fan the flames and pour gasoline on what is already a very tense situation.”

The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.