Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday demanded a mandatory death sentence for cop killers in the wake of the horrific murder of NYPD Det. Jonathan Diller.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee, 77, was speaking at a campaign rally in Green Bay, Wis. where he called on Congress to pass legislation to ensure that those convicted of killing a police officer receive capital punishment — just days after he attended Diller’s wake in Long Island.
“I will ask Congress to send a bill to my desk ensuring that anyone who murders a police officer will receive immediately the death penalty,” Trump told the crowd, a line that drew a standing ovation.
“We’re going to do that, and you’ll see the whole situation come to a halt,” he added.
Trump has supported executing convicted cop killers repeatedly since at least 2015, during his first White House run, when he vowed to sign an executive order giving “anybody killing a police officer, the death penalty.”
In 2018, during a DC tribute to slain NYPD officer Miosotis Familia, the then-president again expressed his support for a mandatory death penalty.
In the runup to the 2020 election, after the ambush shooting of two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, Trump argued that if the wounded deputies didn’t survive the “animals” responsible for the crime should receive a “fast trial [and the] death penalty.”
“Only way to stop this!” he said in a tweet. The deputies – Claudia Apolinar and Emmanuel Perez-Perez – survived the shooting.
Capital punishment is legal in 27 states and at the federal level and has been outlawed in 23 states – including New York – and Washington, D.C.
Career criminal Guy Rivera, 34, allegedly shot and killed Diller during a routine traffic stop in Far Rockaway, Queens, last month.
What to know about the fatal shooting of NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller:
- Diller, 31, was shot and killed during a routine traffic stop in Far Rockaway, Queens, on March 25, 2024.
- Suspect Guy Rivera allegedly opened fire on Diller on Monday evening after the cop approached the vehicle Rivera was in for parking in front of a bus stop.
- Diller was shot once in the stomach below his bulletproof vest. The married father of a 1-year-old boy was rushed to Jamaica Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
- Rivera was wounded when Diller’s partner returned fire. The suspect has 21 prior arrests and was found to have a shiv stored in his rectum during the shooting — in apparent anticipation of being sent to jail again.
- Lindy Jones, the ex-con behind the wheel of the car during the shooting, was also arrested after a second gun was found in his car.
- Mayor Eric Adams has renewed his calls for Albany to address criminal recidivism following the shooting involving two suspects with lengthy criminal records.
Follow The Post’s complete coverage of fallen NYPD Officer Diller’s wake
Rivera, who is facing charges of murder of a police officer, attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon, was wounded in the deadly exchange of gunfire that killed Diller.
“Stephanie, the whole family, was so incredible,” Trump said of Diller’s widow and the slain detective’s loved ones. “The Diller family is so incredible.”
“It’s hard to explain how beautiful it was,” Trump said of the wake. “It was sad, horrible in so many ways, but the family – so many police officers in the family – Stephanie was incredible.”
He said it was “amazing to see the love and the respect” for Diller, noting that “thousands of policemen and women went up to that funeral parlor” and that there were lined “for blocks and blocks” outside the venue.
Trump described Diller’s infant son, Ryan, as “the most beautiful baby ever” and said Stephanie “didn’t want to know anybody else” after meeting her future husband in high school.
The former president described Diller’s killing as “vicious,” telling the crowd that as the detective being “blown to pieces” he “grabbed the gun, he fought him, and his people came over and they shot the killer.”
Trump also railed against “migrant crime,” describing it as “a new category of crime” that has emerged under President Biden.
He vowed to set up a federal task force “to end squatting in America,” which he called “a big deal.”
Trump characterized so-called “squatters rights” – laws that allow individuals to legally inhabit a home even without proof of the owner’s permission – as “radical Democrat lunacy.”
How Post readers can help
You can help Officer Jonathan Diller’s 1-year-old son via the Silver Shield Foundation, which will help fund his future education. Diller, 31, was shot and killed during a traffic stop in Queens, leaving behind his wife, Stephanie, and baby Ryan.
The Silver Shield Foundation was launched in 1982 by late New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner for the families of NYPD officers and FDNY firefighters who lose their lives in the line of duty.
You can make a contribution at silvershieldfoundation.org/donate or send it to: Silver Shield Foundation, 870 UN Plaza, 1st Floor, New York, NY 10017.
“If you have illegal aliens invading your home. We will deport [them],” Trump said. “We will not allow your homes to be taken from you in any way shape or form.”
While slamming Biden’s “Trans Visibility Day” proclamation that coincided with Easter Sunday, Trump predicted that on Nov. 5 – Election Day – Christians will “turn out in numbers that nobody has ever seen before” and propel him back into the Oval Office
“What the hell was Biden thinking when he declared Easter Sunday to be Trans Visibility Day? Such total disrespect to Christians,” he argued.
“November 5 is going to be called something else, you know, it’s gonna be called Christian Visibility Day.”
