HOWELL, Mich. — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Tuesday falsely depicted Vice President Kamala Harris’s path to the Democratic nomination as violent and distorted her record on crime, even as he defended his supporters who attacked police at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump, whose lies about theft of the 2020 election inspired his supporters to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power, falsely accused Harris of orchestrating a “vicious, violent overthrow” by replacing President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket. Biden withdrew last month and endorsed Harris. While the process was unusual, it was legal and did not involve violence.
He went on to defend the Jan. 6 rioters by falsely claiming “nobody was killed,” as he compared that day to the protests that erupted after the police killing of George Floyd. Four people died in the mob on Jan. 6, three from medical problems and one shot by a police officer. One officer who fought the mob died of a stroke the next day, and four more officers committed suicide in the days and months that followed.
Trump spoke at the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office surrounded by deputies for an address focused on crime. Democrats criticized the event in advance because of Trump’s own 34 felony convictions and because of a recent neo-Nazi demonstration here. One demonstrator was recorded shouting, “We love Hitler, we love Trump.”
“One of the conclusions you could draw is that he went to Howell specifically because he thinks those people are his biggest supporters and champions,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) told reporters on Tuesday. “I find it to be the greatest of ironies that, Trump is in town to talk about crime and public safety when the thing that we know most about Donald Trump is he himself is a one-man crime wave.”
Asked about the Democrats’ criticism over Howell’s historic association with the Ku Klux Klan, Trump responded that Biden had visited here in 2021. His campaign has said the location was chosen for being in the Detroit media market. Both campaigns consider Michigan one of the seven states likely to decide the electoral college.
In response to the appearance, the Harris-Walz campaign condemned Trump for not disavowing the white supremacists and pointed to his 2020 budget proposal to cut federal funding for local community policing programs.
Tuesday’s comments marked another attempt by Trump to undermine confidence in the election and raise questions the legitimacy of Harris’s candidacy. He has repeatedly referred to Harris’s ascent as a “coup,” a tactic he reprised at the law enforcement event.
In Tuesday’s speech, Trump also joked about his criminal record, comparing it to early 20th century gangster Al Capone, drawing chuckles from the audience of sheriff’s office employees, friends and family.
The former president continued fanning suspicions about the July 13 assassination attempt that wounded his ear. Investigators have not named a motive or find any political or ideological connection. In addition to faulting the Secret Service for security lapses, Trump and allies have started attributing the shooting without evidence to Democratic rhetoric or unspecified enemies. On Tuesday, Trump concluded a digression about car plants moving to Mexico by suggesting that his opposition could have that led to the shooting.
“Maybe that’s the way I get shot at and other people don’t,” he said. “They they’ll protect other people because they can’t believe they got so lucky,” he added, without explanation. “But I have to do what I have to do.”
Trump’s remarks included false accusations about Harris’s record on crime. He blamed her for a 2014 ballot initiative that reclassified theft of less than $950 as a misdemeanor. He also falsely accused her of reclassifying other crimes as nonviolent.
His prepared remarks included a call for child rapists to face the death penalty, but he did not deliver that passage.
Trump has scheduled several events in swing states this week his campaign designed to focus on policy as Democrats hold their nominating convention in Chicago. The stops mark a detour from his signature campaign rallies, involving smaller crowds and more intimate venues. Trump has continued to make personal attacks on Harris in these events; on Tuesday he repeatedly mispronounced Harris’s first name, which some supporters see as demeaning and racist.
Outside, scores of other supporters clustered down the road with signs, lawn chairs, flags and Trump swag waiting to welcome Trump. A handful of children held signs that read “Free Heather,” a reference to Heather Idoni, who in May was sentenced to prison on charges stemming from the blockade of an abortion clinic, according to federal authorities.
A lone Trump protester, 52-year-old Jeff Amayo, wandered among them. He held up a sign that read “34 TIME FELON … WHO WILL NEVER BE PRESIDENT AGAIN!”
In an interview with CNN after the event, Trump said he is open to giving independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a role in his administration if he wins. Kennedy’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, said earlier that they are considering throwing their support behind Trump.
Trump and Kennedy met in Milwaukee last month and discussed the possibility of Kennedy endorsing the former president and working in his administration, but the two men did not come to an agreement.