Following the mass shooting in Dallas and killings of five police officers, Donald Trump's campaign reached out to the New York Police Department on Friday morning and asked whether the presumptive Republican nominee could address police officers at the Midtown North Precinct during 3 p.m. roll call, according to the New York Daily News.
The campaign was firmly turned down — and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton explained why during a news conference in New York.
"Our interest is staying out of the politics of the moment, not to provide photo ops," Bratton said in responding to a question from a reporter. "If Mr. Trump wants to speak to me, I would be happy to brief him on what we’re doing. If Sen. Clinton wants to speak to me, I would be very happy to brief her on what we’re doing. But we are not in the business of providing photo ops for our candidates.”
Bratton said that Clinton had requested a briefing and that "there may have been a request made to attend a roll call" from Trump's campaign.
Immediately following the news conference, Trump's campaign spokeswoman pushed back against Bratton's comments, insisting that the campaign had never made such a request.
"Mr. Trump and the campaign did not reach out with a request to address a roll call," spokeswoman Hope Hicks said.
Soon after, the New York Daily News updated its article about Bratton's comments with more details, reporting that Trump's head of security Keith Schiller — a former NYPD detective — made the request to the police commissioner, according to an unnamed police source.
When asked whether Schiller had made the request, Hicks wrote in an email: "I stand by my earlier comment that Mr. Trump and the campaign did not reach out."
This is not the first time that Trump, a longtime Manhattan resident, has clashed with Bratton and members of the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio (D). Trump has called de Blasio the "single worst mayor in the history of New York City," and the mayor has in turn accused Trump of using racism as "a strategic tool."
Source : www.washingtonpost.com
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