CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Donald Trump is back in the battleground state of North Carolina on Friday to speak at a Fraternal Order of Police meeting, trying in the closing stages of the campaign to appear tougher on crime than his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump is scheduled to speak at the FOP National Board of Directors' fall meeting in Charlotte. The FOP, the world's largest organization of law enforcement officers, endorsed Trump's reelection in 2020, and the organization's president said on behalf of its 373,000 members that Trump “has made it very clear that he supports us.”
The image of the former president and Republican candidate huddled in a room with law enforcement officials gives Trump an arena to contrast their support with his own portrayal of Harris, a former district attorney for San Francisco and attorney general of California, whom he has called the “ringleader” of a “Marxist attack on law enforcement” across the country.
“Kamala Harris will bring crime, chaos, destruction and death,” Trump said in Michigan last month, one of many generalizations about America under Harris. “You're going to see levels of crime you've never seen before. … I'm going to bring law and order, security and peace.”
Harris has touted her status as a former top state prosecutor, frequently saying she “knew the type of person Donald Trump was” after talking about “all kinds of perpetrators” in her previous job.
She has been helped to deliver her message by two police officers who were at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and who have served as surrogates for the Democratic candidate and campaigned for her at various events across the country, reflecting on that day.
“Three and a half years later, the fight for our democracy continues,” former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn told voters in Arizona this summer. “The fight continues. Donald Trump remains a threat. His maniacal, egotistical and hunger for power is why violent insurrectionists attacked me and my colleagues.”
At the Democratic National Convention last month, former Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonnell, who is retiring in 2022 due to injuries sustained that day, said Trump “summoned the attackers… He betrayed us.”
Ahead of Trump's visit to North Carolina, Harris' campaign held a press conference with current and former police officers who blasted him, including Dunn, who has said Trump only supports police officers who are loyal to him.
“He put my life and the lives of my Capitol Police colleagues at risk,” he said.
The Harris campaign also released a letter signed by more than 100 law enforcement officers across the country praising Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, as “the only candidates we can trust to keep our communities safe” and arguing that Trump “will sow chaos, defund our vital law enforcement agencies, and put all Americans at risk.”
Trump's call for support for police officers also runs counter to the sympathy he has shown for people who disobey police orders, including promising to pardon people charged with assaulting police officers during the January 6 siege at the Capitol.
Judges and jurors hearing those cases heard testimony from police officers who were brutally attacked while defending their buildings. In total, about 140 officers were injured that day, making it “perhaps the largest single-day mass attack on police officers in American history,” said Matthew Graves, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.
More than 900 people have pleaded guilty to offences related to Jan. 6, and about 200 more have been tried and convicted. More than 950 people have been sentenced, about two-thirds of whom received prison terms ranging from a few days to 22 years.
Trump has long voiced support for those accused in the January 6 attacks. At a March rally in Ohio, Trump stood on stage and raised his hand in a salute as a recorded chorus of inmates accused of crimes in the January 6 attacks sang the national anthem. The announcer asked the crowd to stand “for the hostages who were so terribly wronged on January 6.”
“The J6 warriors were warriors, but they are, above all, victims of what happened,” Trump said at a rally in Nevada this summer, falsely claiming that police welcomed the rioters into the Capitol, ordering the crowd to “let in, let in, let in, let in.”
“What a trap,” Trump said. “What a horrible, horrible thing.”
While the FOP has not officially endorsed him in the 2024 election, other police groups have already endorsed Trump. At another rally in Charlotte in July, Trump won the endorsement of the National Organization of Police Organizations, whose leadership praised Trump for his “unwavering and very public support for our frontline police officers.”
The International Federation of Police Unions endorsed Trump in February, saying his support for police officers is “unparalleled.” Last month, Trump won the endorsement of the Arizona State Police Association, just days after the association endorsed Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego over Trump ally Kali Lake in the state's Senate race.
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Chris Megerian in Washington contributed to this report.
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Meg Kinnard can be contacted at https://x.com/MegKinnardAP
