US Ex-President Donald Trump attended Thursday’s wake for a New York City police officer gunned down in the line of duty.
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-year-old 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, out-of-touch celebrity benefactors.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday that the president has spoken with New York City’s mayor, but she said she didn’t have any “private communications to share” when asked if Biden had spoken to the family of the officer who was killed. Jean-Pierre said the administration’s hearts go out to the officer’s family.
Speaking aboard Air Force One, she said that Biden has supported law enforcement throughout his entire career and took a dig at Trump’s record. “Violent crime surged under the previous administration,” Jean-Pierre said. “The Biden-Harris administration have done the polar opposite, taking decisive action from the very beginning to fund the police and achieving a historic reduction in crime.”
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.
“President Trump is moved by the invitation to join NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller’s family and colleagues as they deal with his senseless and tragic death,” Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
Parked nearby were two pickup trucks with pro-Trump decals and flags bearing his “Make America Great Again” slogan. Dozens of supporters wearing Trump paraphernalia stood nearby in pouring rain.
Trump posted about Diller’s death on his social media network Tuesday, offering prayers to Diller’s family and appreciation for law enforcement. He also called the shooter a “thug” and noted that police said the shooter had numerous prior arrests, declaring that he “NEVER should have been let back out on the streets.”
Diller was the first New York City police officer killed in the line of duty in two years.
After visiting in the funeral home with Diller’s family, Trump spoke outside to news reporters with about a dozen local police officers, half in patrol uniforms, half in tactical gear, forming as a backdrop behind him. One officer standing in front held his rifle across his chest.
Trump called Diller’s killing “such a sad, sad event, such a horrible thing.”
“The police are the greatest people we have. There’s nothing and there’s nobody like them. And this should never happen,” Trump said.
He spoke about Diller’s wife and young son, saying he “doesn’t know how his life has been changed.”
“We have to get back to law and order. We have to do a lot of things differently. This is not working. This is happening too often,” Trump said.
After his brief remarks, he repeated himself as he walked away toward his motorcade and added: “We’ve got to toughen it up.”
He did not elaborate.
