A Tuesday visit by former President Donald Trump to Howell, hosted by the Livingston County sheriff, has drawn contention about the legality of a public body using its resources to help a political campaign.
The event, held at a law enforcement garage in Howell, was billed as a public safety press conference closed to the public. Livingston County Sheriff Mike Murphy said in an August 19 video address that the event would include roughly 150 media members and 70 invited guests. Ultimately, Trump spoke for approximately 50 minutes and gave a short answer to one question before leaving the venue.
“This is not a political event. It is a press conference,” Murphy said. “The former president’s coming to address the press regarding safety and crime.”
Trump has emphasized crime as a campaign issue. There’s been a blitz of statistics and counter-statistics about whether crime got better or worse under his administration. Crime rates generally have improved in recent years, though most law enforcement and prosecutions are handled at the local level according to state law.
Livingston County is one of Michigan’s most solidly Republican counties, particularly the western part of the county where Howell is situated. Trump won this region 64 percent to 34 percent over Biden in 2020, and it will be a vital area for him to turn out in force. Crowds were lining the streets to welcome Trump to town, video posted to social media showed.
Murphy’s insistence that the event was not an indication of support for Trump from law enforcement was contested by Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel and Rep. Tyrone Carter (D-Detroit) in a Tuesday press call. Nessel said it was “laughable” to her that law enforcement officials would want to stand behind Trump, considering his criminal record and prior statements about police officers.
“This is an individual who encouraged an insurrection, talking about violent attacks upon police officers. It is bewildering to me as to why police officers would want to uplift or support somebody who supports attacking their own,” Nessel said. “But the other thing is this Donald Trump has done nothing to build bridges between law enforcement and the communities that they serve. And what police departments from all over the state will tell you is, the thing that keeps police officers the safest, is when they have good relationships with their community members.”
Michigan campaign finance law prohibits “a public body or a person acting for a public body” from authorizing or using “funds, personnel, office space, computer hardware or software, property, stationery, postage, vehicles, equipment, supplies, or other public resources to make a contribution or expenditure or provide volunteer personal services” to influence the nomination or election of a political candidate, either on the state or federal level.
While the use of a law enforcement venue for the event doesn’t seem legally impermissible, as long as equal opportunity would be provided to candidates of other parties to use the same space, the use of police vehicles as a backdrop for Trump’s address could be. Several Livingston County and local police vehicles were displayed behind Trump’s podium for the duration of the event.
Carter, who worked in the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office for 25 years and retired an executive lieutenant in 2008, said it would not have been considered appropriate for law enforcement officers to host and appear at an event in support of a political candidate in their capacity as public officials.
“We used to have a policy that you could not campaign in uniform or conduct any campaign activities,” Carter said. “So, it’s troubling to me when I see men in uniform who are supposed to just uphold the law, standing behind somebody that has broken multiple laws in different states, and who has been found accountable by juries. It’s okay if you support that person, but they should not be standing there in uniform.”
The event was presented with the same signage as Trump’s political rallies. Signs encouraging attendees to text an automated phone number to donate or volunteer for the campaign were present, along with screens that read “Michigan is Trump country.”
Several law enforcement personnel who stood behind Trump during his address applauded and nodded in agreement with various statements, including during a moment where Trump turned to the sheriffs and asked them to promise they’d “never go woke.”
While it’s unlikely the campaign or the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office will face serious, or any, legal repercussions for a possible violation of the campaign finance regulations, the event could, if litigated, set a standard among the legally murky expectations for political actions of law enforcement. Allegations of Michigan Campaign Finance Act violations notoriously take months, even a year, to play out and usually are resolved with a slap on the wrist.
Trump did discuss issues of public safety and crime, but largely centered his remarks around his political opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. He frequently referred to “Kamala criminals” and “Kamala migrants” when discussing violence in American cities or as a result of illegal immigration at the Southern border.
“We’re here today to talk about how we are going to stop the Kamala crime wave that is going on at levels that nobody has ever seen before,” Trump said. “And she is, as you know, the most radical left person ever even thought of for high office, certainly for the office of president. People don’t know the real Kamala, but I do.”
Trump called Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, historically unsupportive of law enforcement. He said crime rates have exploded under the Biden-Harris administration and would continue to worsen if Harris were to ascend to the presidency.
“Since comrade Kamala Harris took office, her administration’s crime statistics show she’s presided over a 43 percent increase in violent crime,” Trump said. “I’ll bet the people behind me don’t have anything like that. The crime in America is out of control. I watched last night in amazement as they tried to pretend that everything was great. The crime was great. The border was great.”
Trump said the statistics he cited were “government numbers” but did not elaborate.
According to data compiled by the FBI, no such increase has occurred during President Joe Biden’s term. Violent crime rates rose nationwide towards the end of Trump’s term in office and at the beginning of Biden’s, largely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and have decreased since then, but it’s generally local law enforcement and state laws that have greater effect.
He also said Harris supports the “Defund the Police” movement, a statement which fact checkers debunked earlier in the campaign cycle. Harris has said she supports restructuring and reforming certain aspects of policing but has not endorsed defunding.
Trump also said the Biden administration “lied about Charlottesville,” seemingly referencing a comment he made about the white supremacist riots in the city in 2017, in which he said there were “very fine people on both sides.”
Nessel voiced concerns over Trump visiting Howell, a city still laboring with the history of the long dead Michigan Ku Klux Klan grand wizard having lived in nearby Cohoctah Township and where, last month, neo-Nazi gatherings took place. There has been no known Klan activity in the region since that grand wizard’s 1992 death.
“I’m concerned about the fact that he’s in a place that we know just recently that had neo-Nazis marching and specifically talking about that they support Hitler, and they support Donald Trump, and you didn’t hear Donald Trump try to distance himself from that, at all, whatsoever,” Nessel said. “I think 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. It is outrageous to me that he would not be denouncing that kind of behavior and that kind of language, and I can tell you this, it’s not reflective of the vast majority of the good people of the city of Howell.”
The one question shouted at Trump after his remarks appeared to be directed at the choice of location. A reporter began to ask Trump about assertions from the Harris campaign that it was inappropriate for Trump to visit Howell given its history but was cut off by booing from the guests. Trump shot back that Biden had visited Howell in 2021 and then left the podium.
Also present at the event were U.S. Rep. John James (R-Shelby Township), U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Caledonia), as well as Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers and 8th U.S. House District candidate Paul Junge. Trump also acknowledged Rep. Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) and Sen. Aric Nesbitt (R-Porter Township) for their service as Republican legislative leaders.
