Donald Trump continued to use the killing of a New York City police officer as a campaign opportunity, declaring on Friday that mourners showed him “love” at Thursday’s wake, while he attacked Presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Bill Clinton for not attending the event or calling the victim’s family.
“I support the police, I would say at the highest level by far, maybe double or triple,” Trump told Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade from his private jet (video below).
“And they knew that, that’s why when I walked in to that funeral parlor, it was like love,” Trump said, emphasizing the word “love.”
He said the three Democratic presidents, in New York City Thursday for a fundraiser, “didn’t even call the family,” before saying, “I’m not sure they’d take his call.”
There is no indication the three Democratic presidents had been invited, and a New York City police union had warned NYC Democratic leaders to not attend the funeral.
Kilmeade pointed out that two police commissioners greeted Trump, and the ex-president replied, saying, “it was almost affection in both cases.”
Trump went on to say, “the most important day in the history of our country is going to be November 5, that’s Election Day, it’s going to be November 5, that is the most important period of time, it’s the most important day in the history of our country.”
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He also told Kilmeade, “this country is going to hell. Our country is not respected any more, I say it in my rallies and my speeches, we’re a nation in decline.”
On Thursday, Trump attended the wake of the slain NYPD officer, Jonathan Diller. Before leaving, Trump, facing 88 criminal felony charges spoke to reporters, offering up some of his campaign rhetoric:
“We have to stop, we have to get back to law and order. We have to do a lot of things differently because this is not working. This is happening too often.”
Trump was invited to the wake by Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, according to The Daily Beast, which called out the ex-president for “hypocrisy.”
“He champions Jan. 6 cop-beaters one day and then pretends he cares about law enforcement the next,” wrote The Daily Beast’s Michael Daly. “Trump was apparently counting on everybody forgetting the 140 officers the DOJ says were assaulted at the Capitol by people he calls ‘patriots’ and ‘hostages.'”
Watch a short clip below or at this link.
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