Trump attends wake of slain officer, attacks Biden over crime
Donald Trump attended Thursday’s wake of a New York City police officer gunned down in the line of duty, as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has made crime a focus of his third White House campaign and accused President Joe Biden of lacking toughness.
The visitation for Officer Jonathan Diller, who was fatally shot during a traffic stop on Monday, was being held in suburban Massapequa. Police said the 31-yearold Diller was shot below his bulletproof vest while approaching an illegally parked car in Queens.
Diller, who was married and had a 1-year-old son, was rushed to a hospital, where he died.
Trump’s visit comes as Biden was also in New York for a previously scheduled fundraiser with Democratic ex-presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Trump’s campaign made social media posts contrasting his visit with Biden’s fundraiser.
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung, in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, noted Trump’s visit and said, “Meanwhile, the Three Stooges — Biden, Obama, and Clinton — will be at a glitzy fundraiser in the city with their elitist, outof-touch celebrity benefactors.”
Trump, who was accompanied by some of his senior campaign advisers on the visit, shook hands with New York Police Department Commissioner Edward Caban and Nassau County police and government officials as he entered the funeral home.
Trump has deplored crime in heavily Democratic cities, called for shoplifters to be shot immediately and wants to immunize police officers from lawsuits for potential misconduct. But he’s also demonized local prosecutors, the FBI and the Department of Justice over the criminal prosecutions he faces and the investigation while he was president into his first campaign’s interactions with Russia.
He has also embraced those imprisoned for their roles on the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, when a mob of his angry supporters overran police lines and Capitol and local police officers were attacked and beaten.