Former President Donald Trump is expected to attend the wake for slain New York Police Department officer Jonathan Diller on Thursday afternoon, NYPD spokesperson Tarik Sheppard told NBC News.
Diller's wake is scheduled on Thursday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Massapequa, Long Island. Diller was fatally shot Monday in Far Rockaway, Queens after he and his partner approached a vehicle that was illegally parked at a bus stop. The suspect inside the vehicle shot Diller below his bullet-proof vest, Police Commissioner Edward Caban said, according to The Associated Press.
Reached for comment, Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump is "moved by the invitation to join" Diller’s family and his colleagues "as they deal with his senseless and tragic death."
Trump’s expected attendance at Diller's wake comes as he continues to make baseless claims about the crime rate in New York. The former president has often made such claims while attacking state prosecutors who have brought charges against him, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. James brought the civil fraud case against him and Bragg brought charges of falsifying business records against him in his hush money case.
The former president has also alluded to New York police officers who were assaulted this year by a group of migrants.
“You know, in New York, what’s happening with crime is it’s through the roof, and it’s called ‘migrant,’” the former president said at a rally in Michigan last month. “They beat up police officers. You’ve seen that they go in, they stab people, hurt people, shoot people. It’s a whole new form, and they have gangs now that are making our gangs look like small potatoes.”
CORRECTION (March 27, 2024, at 8:22 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article mischaracterized Trump’s comments about migrants assaulting police officers. An incident in New York was recorded on video; it was not an unsubstantiated claim. It also misspelled the last name of the NYPD spokesperson. He is Tarik Sheppard, not Shepard.
