Trump accepts key endorsement from police union while celebrating sentencing delay on felony charges

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Donald Trump accepted a key endorsement from one of the nation's most influential law enforcement lobbies on Friday by offering a sweeping indictment of the U.S. legal system that has convicted him of almost three dozen felony counts and indicted him in three other pending cases.

The Fraternal Order of Police convention in the battleground state of North Carolina was billed as a way for Trump to pitch himself as a law-and-order figure and cast his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, a former prosecutor and California attorney general, as weak.

But in between remarks about crime and law enforcement, the former president and Republican nominee celebrated a New York judge's decision earlier in the day to postpone his sentencing on 34 felony counts in a business fraud case until after Election Day. He repeated his false assertions that the U.S. election system is rife with massive voter fraud and that his 2020 defeat was rigged — arguments rejected in dozens of state and federal courts. He promised to crack down on “Marxist prosecutors,” and he seemed to suggest that domestic police forces could more actively prevent voter fraud because people are scared of them.

Trump's latest broadsides and untruths also underscored the unusual circumstances of a national law enforcement group embracing a political leader who has repeatedly denigrated U.S. institutions and championed a mob of his supporters who assaulted law enforcement officers at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — a siege at the core of Trump's continuing legal peril as he attempts a comeback bid.

But on Friday, top of mind was the New York case, which he mentioned early on in his remarks. “Big news today is the Manhattan D.A. witch hunt against me has been postponed because everyone realizes that there was no case — because I did nothing wrong,” Trump said.

Patrick Yoes, the FOP's national president, said Trump had tamped down the “defund the police” movement and supported law enforcement in the summer of 2020 during nationwide protests against police brutality after the murder of George Floyd.

“During his time in the White House, we had a partner and a leader,” Yoes said. "We have your back.”

Despite Trump's status as the only U.S. president in history to be charged or convicted with a felony, the former president used the room of law enforcement officers as a backdrop to attack Harris over crime.

“American cities, suburbs and towns are totally under siege. Kamala Harris and the communist left have unleashed a brutal plague of bloodshed, crime, chaos, misery and death upon their land,” Trump said, adding that police are “not allowed to do your jobs.”

Trump pledged unyielding support for police, including expanded use of force: “We have to get back to power and respect.”

And he seemingly encouraged police to use their power in the upcoming election to “watch for voter fraud," which is rare in the United States despite his insistence to the contrary.

“I hope you as the greatest people ... watch for voter fraud,” he said. “I hope you can watch and you're all over the place. Watch for the voter fraud. Because we win. Without voter fraud, we win so easily. Hopefully, we're going to win anyway. But we want to keep it down. You can keep it down just by watching. Because believe it or not, they're afraid of that badge. They're afraid of you people.”

For her part, Harris has showcased her status as a one-time top prosecutor in her home state, regularly saying “I know Donald Trump’s type” after she talks about the “perpetrators of all kinds” in her former roles.

She’s had some help with that messaging from two officers who were at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and have become surrogates for the Democratic ticket.

"Donald Trump is still that threat,” former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn told a group of voters in Arizona this summer. “His deranged, self-centered, obsessive quest for power is the reason violent insurrectionists assaulted my coworkers and I.”

Ahead of Trump's North Carolina trip, the Harris campaign organized a press call with current and former law enforcement officials, including Dunn, who said Trump only supports police when they’re loyal to him.

“He put my life and the lives of my fellow Capitol Police officers in danger," he said.

The Harris campaign also issued a letter signed by more than 100 law enforcement officials across the country, lauding Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, as “the only candidates we trust to keep our communities safe" and arguing that Trump “will sow chaos, defund critical law enforcement agencies, and put all Americans at risk.”

The FOP joins other police groups that have already lined up behind Trump, including the National Association of Police Organizations and International Union of Police Associations.

Trump's support from law officers also butts up against sympathies he has shown for those who have defied the orders of police, including his pledge to pardon those charged with beating officers during the Capitol siege.

Judges and juries considering those cases have heard police officers describe being savagely attacked while defending the building. All told, about 140 officers were injured that day, making it “likely the largest single day mass assault of law enforcement” in American history, Matthew Graves, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, has said.

Over 900 people have pleaded guilty to Jan. 6 crimes, and approximately 200 others have been convicted at trial. More than 950 people have been sentenced, with roughly two-thirds getting time behind bars — terms ranging from a few days to 22 years.

Trump has long expressed support for Jan. 6 defendants. “Those J6 warriors, they were warriors, but ... they’re victims of what happened,” Trump said at a rally in Nevada this summer. He falsely claimed that police welcomed rioters into the Capitol by saying, “Go in, go in, go in, go in.”

Trump's misrepresentation of what happened did not concern his ardent supporters gathered in Charlotte.

“I wish they could let them all out of jail,” said Janice Moody, a retired fingerprint technician with the Las Vegas Police Department and spouse of a retired Las Vegas officer.

“I don't think they did it on purpose,” she added.

Barrow reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writer Chris Megerian in Washington contributed to this report.

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks to the National Fraternal Order of Police fall meeting, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks to the Fraternal Order of Police in Charlotte, N.C., Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks to the Fraternal Order of Police in Charlotte, N.C., Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak to the National Fraternal Order of Police fall meeting, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump answers questions during a campaign event at the Economic Club of New York, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Israeli strikes in the southern Gaza Strip killed at least 15 people overnight, including six children and two women, Palestinian medical officials said Tuesday. In northern Gaza, where Israel has been waging an air and ground campaign in Jabaliya for more than a week, residents said families were still trapped in their homes and shelters.

It’s been more than a year since Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed in, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. They are still holding about 100 people captive inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not say how many were fighters but say women and children make up more than half of the fatalities. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its population of 2.3 million people.

In solidarity with Hamas, Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has exchanged cross-border fire with Israel almost daily for the past year. Israel escalated its campaign against the group in recent weeks.

Rumors circulated for weeks over head of the expeditionary arm of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Gen. Esmail Qaani’s status after an Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut in late September. But Qaani, the head of the Quds Force, was seen in a black bomber jacket, wiping away tears at an event early Tuesday morning at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport.

Here's the latest:

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The funeral of an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general killed alongside Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah drew the largest crowd of top leaders in the paramilitary organization together Tuesday for the first time since Tehran launched a ballistic missile attack on Israel.

The Guard’s leadership hasn’t been as visible in the two weeks since Iran’s Oct. 1 attack on Israel. The Guard is the main power behind Iran’s theocracy and oversees its arsenal of ballistic missiles — which would be crucial in any future attack on Israel.

At the funeral in Tehran for Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, the Guard’s chief commander, Gen. Hossein Salami, attended alongside President Masoud Pezeshkian and the head of the country’s judiciary. Other Guard generals also attended, including Gen. Esmail Qaani of the Guard’s expeditionary Quds Force, about whom rumors had circulated for days regarding his status after the strike that killed Nasrallah.

At least two prominent Guard generals were not on hand: Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of Guard’s aerospace division that oversees its missile program, and Gen. Ali Reza Tangsiri, commander of the Guard’s navy, did not attend.

Iran offered no explanation for their absence, though Israel has threatened to carry out a serious retaliatory strike against Iran.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes in the southern Gaza Strip killed at least 15 people overnight, including six children and two women, Palestinian medical officials said Tuesday.

A strike early Tuesday hit a house in the southern town of Beni Suhaila, killing at least 10 people from one extended family, according to Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Younis. The dead include three children and one woman, according to hospital records. An Associated Press camera operator at the hospital counted the bodies.

In the nearby town of Fakhari, a strike hit a house early Tuesday, killing five people, including three children and a woman, according to the European Hospital, where the casualties were taken.

The Israeli military rarely comments on individual strikes. It says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames their deaths on Hamas, accusing the militants of sheltering in civilian areas.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — In northern Gaza, where Israel has been waging an air and ground campaign in Jabaliya for more than a week, residents said families were still trapped in their homes and shelters Tuesday.

Adel al-Deqes said his relatives tried to move to another place in Jabaliya in the morning, but the military shelled them.

“We don’t know who died and who is still alive,” he said.

Ahmed Awda, another Jabaliya resident, said they heard “constant bombing and gunfire” overnight and Tuesday morning. He said the military destroyed many buildings in the eastern and northern parts of the camp, which dates back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation.

“They bombed many buildings; some of them empty buildings,” he said.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The head of the expeditionary arm of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has appeared in television footage aired Tuesday by Iranian state television.

Rumors circulated for weeks over Gen. Esmail Qaani’s status in the time since an Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut in late September. But Qaani, the head of the Quds Force, was seen in a black bomber jacket, wiping away tears at an event early Tuesday morning at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport.

While Iranian state television did not acknowledge the rumors, it made a point to film Qaani for over a minute and later share the footage from the airport ceremony online.

Qaani was on hand for the repatriation to Iran of the body of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, 58, who was killed in the airstrike.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Australia’s government has imposed targeted financial sanctions and travel bans on five Iranians contributing to the country’s missile defense program, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Tuesday.

Iran’s launch of at least 180 ballistic missiles against Israel on Oct. 1 was “a dangerous escalation that increased the risk of a wider regional war,” Wong said in a statement.

The fresh sanctions target two directors and a senior official in Iran’s Aerospace Industries Organization, the director of the Shahid Bagheri Industrial Group, and the commercial director of the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group.

The decision brings to 200 the number of Iran-linked individuals and entities now sanctioned by Australia.

“Australia will continue to hold Iran to account for its reckless and destabilizing actions,” Wong said.

People chant slogans during the funeral ceremony of the late Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut in late September, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

People and officials attend the funeral ceremony of the late Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut in late September, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Commander of the Iran's Revolutionary Guard Quds Force, Gen. Esmail Qaani, mourns during the funeral ceremony of the late Revolutionary Guard Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut in late September, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Mourners carry the coffin of Iranian Revolutionary Guards' deputy commander Brigadier Gen. Abbas Nilforushan who died alongside Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last month during his funeral in Karbala, Iraq, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil)

Palestinians look at the damage after an Israeli strike hit a tent area in the courtyard of Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Pro-Israel protesters holds Israeli flags as demonstrators protest Israel's war against Hamas outside the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

A displaced family fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the south, sits next to their tent on Beirut's corniche, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Families fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the south, sit in front of the Mohammad al-Amin Mosque in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Mourners carry a picture of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah during the funeral procession of their relatives, in Maisara near the northern coastal town of Byblos, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Palestinians look at the damage after an Israeli strike hit a tent area in the courtyard of Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Middle East latest: Israeli strikes on southern Gaza kill at least 15 people overnight

Middle East latest: Israeli strikes on southern Gaza kill at least 15 people overnight