Critics slam Biden for 'sucking the blood out of kids' comment after town hall

Conservatives were left puzzled and slammed President Joe Biden after he quipped about Republicans allegedly believing Democrats are "sucking the blood out of kids" during an exchange with a reporter. 

"Are there people in the Republican Party who think we’re sucking the blood out of kids?" the president quipped Wednesday in response to a Daily Caller reporter asking him if there are any Democrats who want to defund the police. 

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The puzzled reporter responded: "I’m not sure."

The comment has sparked mockery and condemnation on social media, with many also expressing befuddlement. 

"Anyone else concerned how obsessed Joe Biden is with sucking blood out of kids?" attorney Jenna Ellis tweeted in response. 

"Yeah, that’s uh…creepy," Red State wrote in an article concerning the exchange. 

White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates told Fox News he was unfamiliar with a few examples of critics pushing back on Biden's quip, but added that "Republicans should stop working to defund the police and instead endorse the President’s proposal to allocate hundreds of millions more dollars a year to the COPS program."

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The president’s comment came after he made a similar remark about "sucking the blood of children" during a CNN town hall event hosted by Don Lemon, saying the country needs to "get beyond" such QAnon conspiracy theories. 

"But some of the stuff — I mean, Qanon, the idea that the Democrats or that Biden is hiding people and sucking the blood of children and — no, I’m serious. That’s — now you may not like me, and that’s your right. Look, it’s a simple thing. You can walk out and say, I just don’t like the way that guy wears his tie. I’m voting against him. You have a right to do that. You have a right to do that," he said. 

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He added: "The kinds of things that are being said of late, I think you're beginning to see some of the—and by Democrats as well—sort of the venom, sort of leak out of a lot. We've got to get beyond this."

The town hall was overall panned by conservatives, with some describing it as a "train wreck" and others saying Lemon is "not a journalist," but an "activist" for the Democratic Party.