Trump Attempts To Use Police Tragedy As a Photo Op
After calling off campaign events in the wake of the ambush killings of five Dallas police officers, Donald Trump reached out to NYPD officials, NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton said Friday.
A rep from Donald Trump’s Manhattan organization asked the city’s top cop to let the candidate speak to a 3 p.m. roll call at the NYPD Midtown North Precinct. But Commissioner Bratton strongly rejected the idea, which a police source said came from Trump’s head of security Keith Schiller.
During a press conference at police headquarters, Bratton told reporters “there may have been a request made to attend a roll call” by Trump and that there was “an inquiry from Senator Clinton about setting up a call to be briefed on what’s going on here in New York.”
The commissioner said he would be “more than happy” to speak with either presumptive presidential nominee but stressed his interest is in “staying out of the politics of the moment.”
“If Mr. Trump wants to speak to me, I’d be happy to brief him on what we’re doing. [If] Senator Clinton wants to speak to me, I’d be very happy to brief her on what we’re doing,” Bratton said. “But we’re not in the business of providing photo-ops for candidates.”
Donald Trump’s campaign disputed Bratton’s assertion.
“Mr. Trump and the campaign did not reach out with a request to address a roll call,” Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in an email to POLITICO.
Asked whether Trump reached out to address the officers in any capacity, Hicks responded, “No.”
(h/t Politico, NY Daily News)
Reality
This incident devolved into he-said-she-said hearsay. You will have to consider each source. The commissioner will address the press again this afternoon, along with the mayor and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson. So stay tuned for updates.
NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton previously questioned Donald Trump ability to match President Obama’s record of killing terrorists and was critical of Trump’s response to the Orlando shootings.
While Trump has a long record of not making truthful or accurate statements. Trump’s head of security Keith Schiller was involved in smacking a protester at the start of Trump’s campaign.