As hundreds of police officers and family members stood outside a Long Island funeral home, former President Donald J. Trump attended on Thursday the wake of a New York City police officer who was killed in the line of duty days earlier.
Then, Mr. Trump, who is facing four criminal cases, including one in Manhattan that is going to trial in less than three weeks, stood in front of more than a dozen police officers and proclaimed the need for the country to “get back to law and order.”
Mr. Trump’s visit with the family of Police Officer Jonathan Diller, who was fatally shot during a traffic stop on Monday, was not a campaign event, though he did take the opportunity to emphasize his message on crime.
After being greeted by New York City’s police commissioner, Mr. Trump met privately with Officer Diller’s widow and 1-year-old son, then viewed the officer’s coffin, said Bruce Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, who accompanied Mr. Trump.
Afterward, as rain poured down outside, Mr. Trump said the officer’s death was a horrible tragedy and, as he often does on the campaign trail, broadly called for a crackdown on violent crime without mentioning specific policies. “The only thing we can say is maybe something is going to be learned,” Mr. Trump said. “We’ve got to toughen it up. We’ve got to strengthen it up.”
But the former president’s attendance at the wake was reflective of a balancing act that has come to define his campaign. Even as Mr. Trump faces 88 felony charges, he has continued to court police officers and style himself as a tough-on-crime candidate in stark contrast to Democrats whose policies he says encourage violence.
