Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump made a stop in North Carolina to address the Fraternal Order of Police's national board, and the FOP voted to endorse Trump over his opponent, Democrat Kamala Harris.
The private event was held at the Hilton Hotel in University City, with members of FOP groups from around the U.S. Daniel Redford, president of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg FOP, said he was happy the group fully endorsed Trump.
"He’s been a strong proponent for law enforcement,” Redford told WFAE. “He’s always been very vocal for us, and to have him here today I think is — you know, showcases the level at which the Fraternal Order of Police operates to have this opportunity and this honor.”
The endorsement sets up an unusual contrast: The FOP, which also backed Trump in 2020, threw its support to Trump, a convicted felon facing more trials, rather than Harris, a former prosecutor.
Just before the event started, the North Carolina Court of Appeals ordered the state to halt printing ballots for mail-in voting.
The court ordered the state elections board to remove Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name from the ballots. During Trump’s opening remarks, he said that ruling was a positive thing for Kennedy — who dropped out and endorsed him.
“That sounds like a bad thing for him. It's not, it's actually a great thing,” Trump said to the audience, speaking about Kennedy's struggle to get off ballots in swing states he was until recently fighting to get on. “He's an incredible team player and he didn't want anybody to be voting his name because as you know, he fully endorsed us, he's with us, he's gonna be watching out for women's health and everybody's health and got a lot of great things to say.”
Trump also spoke on crime, immigration and support for law enforcement. He said there’s a crisis of crime, but statistics show serious crimes like murder are down in much of the U.S. — though notably not in Charlotte, where murder is up.
The speech also came as a judge in New York delayed sentencing in Trump’s hush money case until after the 2024 election.
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