Joe Biden was once a tough-on-crime Democrat. Will he be one again?
Presented by Uber
Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook,
your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from Allie Bice and Daniel Payne
Earlier this month, the mayor of Wilmington, Del. got a surprise call. It was the president.
JOE BIDEN was checking on the status of three police officers who had been shot while responding to a domestic violence call, an official familiar with the call told West Wing Playbook. (All three survived.)
The conversation, which had not been previously reported and which the White House did not publicize, reflects the personal touch Biden applies as well as the ties he continues to feel to his home state. But it is also a vestige of his long history as a “law and order” Democrat, to the point that he has drawn criticism from his own party for his views on criminal justice.