New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton told NBC’s Chuck Todd that the NYPD would not be “politicized” when asked to clarify whether Donald Trump or his campaign asked to address a police roll call on Friday. According to Bratton, a member of the presumptive Republican nominee’s security personnel reached out to the department about the possibility of Trump addressing a roll call. The department turned down his request.
“We don’t allow the department to be politicized, and inasmuch as he is engaged in a political campaign, that would be a politicizing of the department,” Bratton said.
Bratton said that presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton would also have been denied if she had made a similar request, stressing that the department would not be used as a “backdrop” to presidential campaigns.
Both Clinton and Trump did call Bratton in the wake of the Dallas attack in order to speak with him about policing in New York, as well as the tragedy in Dallas. He called the conversations "very productive" but also "overplayed" by the media.
The Trump campaign denied making the request. The New York Daily News reported that his spokeswoman said via email, "Mr. Trump and the campaign did not reach out with a request to address roll call."