Biden says he's open to visiting Wisconsin in wake of Jacob Blake shooting

Joe Biden said Thursday he is open to going to Wisconsin following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha — and "would be going" if he were president.

"I would consider that," the Democratic presidential candidate said during an interview with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell. "What I don't want to do is, I don't want to become part of the problem, and I want to make sure it would be done safely and would bring some competence. If I were president, I'd be going."

Video that went viral on Sunday showed police shooting Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, seven times in the back as he walked away from the officers. Blake survived, but attorneys for his family have said he is paralyzed from the waist down.

The shooting has reignited racial unrest across the country that began earlier this summer after the death of George Floyd, a Black man, died after a White Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into his neck for at least eight minutes.

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The shooting has spurred at-times violent protests in Kenosha; during a third night of unrest, looting and vandalism, two people were killed and a third was seriously wounded by gunfire. Authorities have charged 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse with homicide. He is in custody in Illinois, the Antioch police department announced in a Facebook post Thursday.

"It's hard to tell now what the circumstance underground is," Biden said. "If I went, what I'd be doing is trying to pull together the Black community, as well as the white community and sit down and talk, and talk about how we could get through this."

He continued: "This is not about whether or not all folks in that community agree with white supremacists, or blacks in the community agree with some of those folks that are looting. I don't think that's what ... Black and White America is about. But that's what's being seen now, and it's got to stop."

Biden has previously condemned the "needless violence" in Kenosha, calling on the nation to "peacefully come together to demand justice."

The former vice president and his running mate Kamala Harris have both said they spoke with Blake's family following the shooting. Biden said he assured them that "justice must and will be done."

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Biden's comments come after President Trump announced Wednesday that he would order additional federal forces to quell the violence in Kenosha, a city that's roughly in between Chicago and Milwaukee.

"TODAY, I will be sending federal law enforcement and the National Guard to Kenosha, WI to restore LAW and ORDER!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

The president has called on the state's governor, Democrat Tony Evers, to forcibly stop the unrest.

"Governor should call in the National Guard in Wisconsin. It is ready, willing, and more than able. End problem FAST!" Trump tweeted Tuesday.