MASSAPEQUA PARK, N.Y. | 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-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.
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.
Trump’s campaign did not offer more details about his appearance or whether he planned to speak.
“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.
Massapequa and the surrounding South Shore towns have long been a popular destination for city police officers and firefighters looking to set down roots on Long Island. The road leading to the funeral home was painted with a thin blue line, a symbol used as a sign of police solidarity, and the road was flanked by American flags and American flags with a thin blue line.
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.
The former president and his supporters sought a similar split screen with Biden earlier this month as they went after the president over crime and illegal immigration while both were campaigning in Georgia. Trump during his visit to the state met with the family of slain nursing student Laken Riley. An immigrant from Venezuela who entered the U.S. illegally is charged with her death.
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.
The previous line-of-duty death was the fatal shooting of two New York City police officers, and the day after the second funeral, Biden visited the police department’s headquarters and spoke to officers and top brass.
Biden has pledged that the federal government will work more closely with police to combat gun violence and crack down on illegal guns.
Price reported from New York. Associated Press writer Colleen Long aboard Air Force One contributed to this report.