U.S. News

Biden campaign fires back after Trump posts image showing president hog-tied

By Simon Druker   |   March 30, 2024 at 1:56 PM
Former President Donald Trump is drawing criticism after his election campaign posted video footage of an image depicting President Joe Biden hog-tied in a pickup truck. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI Donald Trump’s campaign said the video of the image shared Friday on the former president’s Truth Social platform was taken on Long Island while he was attending a funeral for a slain NYPD officer. Pool Photo by Spencer Platt/UPI

March 30 (UPI) -- Former President Donald Trump is drawing criticism after his election campaign posted video footage of an image on the back of a pickup truck depicting President Joe Biden hog-tied.

Trump's campaign said the video of the image shared Friday on the former president's Truth Social platform was taken on Long Island where he was attending a funeral for NYPD officer Jonathan Diller.

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Diller was shot and killed on duty earlier in the week.

The image on the tailgate of a pickup truck depicts Biden hog-tied and gagged while lying in the back of a truck.

"That picture was on the back of a pickup truck that was traveling down the highway," Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement. "Democrats and crazed lunatics have not only called for despicable violence against President Trump and his family, they are actually weaponizing the justice system against him."

Biden campaign manager Michael Tyler fired back.

"This image from Donald Trump is the type of crap you post when you're calling for a bloodbath or when you tell the Proud Boys to 'stand back and stand by,'" Tyler said in a statement Friday.

"Trump is regularly inciting political violence and it's time people take him seriously -- just ask the Capitol Police officers who were attacked protecting our democracy on January 6."

The U.S. Secret Service said in a statement to Politico it "does not confirm or comment on matters of protective intelligence."

The video of the image isn't the first time Trump has used veiled calls for violence during his campaign.

Earlier this month, the former president said publicly there would be a "bloodbath" if doesn't win the 2024 Presidential Election. His campaign defended the statement as referring only to the auto industry as he was vowing to impose tariffs on imported cars.