Suffolk County police are holding a pre-rally before former President Donald Trump’s rally in Long Island, New York, on Wednesday.
The pre-rally and tailgate begin around 2:00 p.m. — five hours before the formal start of Trump’s 7:00 p.m. rally. According to an emailed press release detailing the event:
Suffolk County PBA [Police Benevolent Association] President Lou Civello, alongside over 100 cops, Long Island elected officials, and representatives from law enforcement agencies across the region, will hold a pre-rally to show support for President Trump ahead of his rally at Nassau Coliseum.
The press release notes that the Suffolk County PBA was the “first police union in New York to endorse President Trump,” and it identified Suffolk as “the first police organization to endorse Trump in the State of New York.” The release noted that officers will be “dressed in pro-Trump attire.”
The event comes hours before Trump’s New York rally, which has already drawn headlines after it was reported that a vehicle full of explosives was found near the rally sight. Local police, however, have said that the report is false.
Trump’s New York rally comes as he continues his promise to make a serious play for traditionally blue states, detailing his plans for an aggressive electoral expansion to Breitbart News several months ago.
“One of the other things I’m going to do — and I may be foolish in doing it — is I’m going to make a heavy play for New York, heavy play for New Jersey, heavy play for Virginia, heavy play for New Mexico, and a heavy play for a state that hasn’t been won in years, Minnesota,” Trump said.
“I’m going to do rallies, I’m going to do speeches, I’m going to work them,” Trump added. “That doesn’t mean I’m going to work them as hard as I work Pennsylvania, where I’m doing very well.”
The Long Island rally comes less than a week after a second foiled assassination attempt against Trump, with authorities arresting the suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, on Sunday after he fled the scene. The state of Florida is stepping in to investigate and pursue charges, as Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) formally assigned the case to the Office of Statewide Prosecutor under the supervision of Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R).
Bodycam Footage: Alleged Would-Be Trump Assassin Arrested
“And we will not sit idly by while anybody stonewalls information sharing amongst our law enforcement entities. We know that if we want answers, we got to go get them, and our proud law enforcement officers and deputies are out there doing that,” Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass said during that press conference, which saw both DeSantis and Moody casting doubt on how wise it is to have the same agencies seeking to prosecute Trump also investigate these assassination attempts.
“In my judgment, it’s not in the best interest of our state or our nation that the same federal agencies that are seeking to prosecute Donald Trump [are] leading this investigation, especially when the most serious, straightforward offense constitutes a violation of state law but not federal law,” DeSantis said as Moody later added that it is “awkward, to say the least, to have a prosecutorial agency and an investigatory agency that is bringing charges and seeking to put the victim away for life being the same agency and prosecutors that are going after the [alleged] would-be assassin.”