Michigan Cops Endorse Trump, Who Salutes Followers Accused Of Assaulting Police

A Michigan police union has become the second to back Donald Trump, who glorifies and promises to pardon individuals charged with, and in many cases convicted of, violently assaulting police officers.

“We want you to accept our endorsement for president of the United States,” Jim Tignanelli, president of the 12,000-member Police Officers Association of Michigan, told the coup-attempting former president at a campaign appearance in Grand Rapids Tuesday.

David Malhalab, a retired Detroit police sergeant of 31 years, said he was appalled by the announcement. “It’s inexplicable,” he said. “They should condemn and reject Trump.”

“At the start of every rally, Trump honors insurrectionists who assaulted my colleagues with flag poles and bashed their heads against walls,” said Harry Dunn, a former Capitol Police officer who was called the N-word by Trump followers on Jan. 6, 2021.

Tignanelli did not respond to HuffPost queries.

The union’s web site features its Trump endorsement, stating: “He unequivocally condemned violence and unrest, standing firmly with law enforcement in times of crisis.”

That assertion, though, is false. On Jan. 6, Trump sat for hours in a small dining room of the Oval Office, watching a mob of his followers attack police officers and overrun the Capitol in their attempt to coerce Congress into overturning Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.

Only in the late afternoon, after police had turned the tide against his supporters, Trump finally released a video telling them to leave the Capitol, which they quickly did.

And although Trump the following day condemned the violence, he has over the past year come to embrace what his supporters did that day. At recent rallies, he has stood and saluted as a recording of the