Donald Trump attended the wake Thursday of a New York City police officer shot in the line of duty and called for “law and order” as part of his bid to show contrast with the president Joe Biden and to focus on crime as part of his third white campaign. Home campaign.
The visit by Officer Jonathan Diller, who was fatally shot during a traffic stop Monday, took place in the Long Island suburb of Massapequa. Police said Diller, 31, was shot under his body armor as he approached an illegally parked car in Queens.
Diller, married with a 1-year-old son, was rushed to the hospital, where he died.
The visit by Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, came while Biden was also in New York for a planned fundraiser with former Democratic presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Trump accused Biden of lacking toughness, and his campaign sought to contrast his visit with Biden’s fundraising.
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung, in an article on in the city with their elitist and disconnected from reality members. famous benefactors.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday that the president had spoken with the mayor of New York, but she said she had no “private communications to share” when he was asked if Biden had spoken to the family of the officer who was killed. Jean-Pierre said the administration’s thoughts are with the officer’s family.
Speaking aboard Air Force One, she said Biden had supported law enforcement throughout his career and took a dig at Trump’s record.
“Violent crime increased under the previous administration,” Jean-Pierre said. “The Biden-(Vice President Kamala) Harris administration did just the opposite, taking decisive action early on to defund the police and achieve a historic reduction in crime.”
After visiting the funeral home with Diller’s family, Trump spoke outside to reporters with about a dozen local police officers, half in patrol uniforms, half in tactical gear, forming behind him as a backdrop.
“We have to get back to law and order. We have to do a lot of things differently. It doesn’t work. It happens too often,” Trump said.
He did not specify.
Mixed opinions on law enforcement
Trump has bemoaned crime in predominantly Democratic cities, called for shoplifters to be taken down immediately and wants to immunize police officers from prosecution for potential misconduct. But he has also demonized local prosecutors, the FBI and the Justice Department over the criminal charges he faces and the investigation while president into his first campaign’s interactions with Russia.
He also welcomed those who were imprisoned for their roles during the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, when an angry mob of his supporters overran police lines and Capitol Police officers and local police were attacked and beaten.
Massapequa and surrounding South Shore towns have long been a popular destination for city police and firefighters looking to establish a foothold on Long Island. Although Democrats outnumber Republicans in New York, this area is a heavily Republican part of Long Island that Trump won in the 2020 presidential election.
Queens prosecutors on Thursday charged Diller’s alleged shooter, Guy Rivera, with first-degree murder and other charges. Rivera, who was shot in the back when Diller’s partner returned fire, was arrested from his hospital bed. Rivera’s attorneys at Legal Aid declined to comment, according to spokesman Redmond Haskins.
Biden has pledged that the federal government will work more closely with police to combat gun violence and crack down on illegal weapons.
New FBI statistics released earlier this month showed that overall violent crime in the United States fell again last year, continuing a downward trend after a spike during the pandemic. FBI data reveals that murders fell 13% in the last three months of 2023 compared to the same period the previous year, and violent crime was down 6% overall.
The FBI report was consistent with the findings of the nonpartisan Council on Criminal Justice, which found that homicides were down 10 percent on average from the previous year in a survey of 32 cities, although it found that violent crime still remained higher than before the coronavirus pandemic in many cities.
