On MSNBC Thursday, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) slammed Chicago police officers for lounging in his congressional office and helping themselves to snacks as local businesses were robbed and vandalized during the George Floyd protests.
"I think that this is really a very low moment," Rush told host Chris Hayes. "It's particularly given the time when we are really hurting. The police/community relationships across the nation are at an all-time low. I've never seen it this low, even during the '60s ... it's never been this very low on a national level."
"We have to root these kind of officers out," said Rush. "I want to take my hat off, Chris, to our mayor. Mayor Lightfoot is an amazing leader, especially for these times and she did not hesitate, not for one moment. Once I contacted her office and told her I had these video tapes she asked me to immediately come down to bring these tapes so she could see them. And when she saw them, you can tell she was angry, she was upset, she was torn. She apologized deeply, and she resolved, said she was going to make sure she found out who these officers were and that they would receive a consequence for their relaxing."
"Their colleagues, other police officers, was out on the streets getting pelted with rocks and bottles and putting their lives on the line," said Rush. "We had these police officers, [they] found a cubby hole and they went relaxing in that cubby hole, leaving their friends, their colleagues, their coworkers out to fend for themselves. What cowards! What cowards. These are absolutely a bunch of cowards in uniform."
Watch below:
