In California, organized crime syndicates have been accused of paying gangs to ransack luxury stores and steal thousands of dollars worth of goods.
Major towns elsewhere have also reported a wave in store lootings, including Chicago and its suburbs, where more than a dozen suspects attacked a Louis Vuitton store recently and stole more than $120,000 worth of high-end clothing and other merchandise.
White House Press Secretary, Jen Psaki, was asked about crime and attacks on police officers during her daily briefing, and whether the President still thought the pandemic was to blame.
"I think many people have conveyed that and also one of the ... root causes of crime in communities is guns and gun violence,' she said. 'And we've seen that statistically around the country."
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Fox News' Peter Doocy held his line of questioning. He said: "So when a huge group of criminals organises themselves and they want to loot a store, CVS and Nordstrom a Home Depot until the shelves are clean, you think that's because of the pandemic?"
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Psaki responded: "I think a root cause in a lot of communities is the pandemic. Yes."
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The White House and the President have made the same point several times this year, hinting that a surge in violent crime this year was the result of the country's reopening.
In June, Biden said: "As we emerge from this pandemic, with the country opening back up again, the traditional summer's ... summer spike may even be more pronounced than it usually would be."
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Psaki's remarks support a string of reports of attacks on well-known stores and the intervention of former President Trump who hours earlier accused the mainstream media of neglecting the issue.
"You know, the media, outside of you people and a few others, the media isn't reporting this problem but when you have hoards of people running in, kids mostly, running in and stealing, robbing stores where drug chains are closing all their stores in different cities because they can't keep them open, we just don't have law enforcement, we're not allowed to have law enforcement," Trump told Fox & Friends.
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But Psaki implied that part of the responsibility lies at his door, when she was asked what Biden was doing to take the spike.
"I would say that one: The President proposed additional funding in his budget over the funding that had been proposed by the prior president to increase and support local police departments, make sure we keep cops on the beat.
"The President proposed additional funding in his budget over the funding that had been proposed by the prior precedent to increase support for local, local police departments, make sure we keep cops on the beat."
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