Donald Trump's use of a photo with dozens of state troopers is raising questions. A longtime political observer said the former president's controversies "magnify" the question of appropriateness.
PennLive
Donald Trump posted private photo with Pa. troopers without authorization: officials say
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Christine Vendel/PennLive
PennLive
Donald Trump's use of a photo with dozens of state troopers is raising questions. A longtime political observer said the former president's controversies "magnify" the question of appropriateness.
Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration is “looking into the matter” after former President Donald Trump published a photo of himself posing with dozens of uniformed State Police troopers on his social media website when the picture was supposed to be private.
Wolf’s press secretary Elizabeth Rementer told PennLive “according to PSP, this was a private photo opportunity with the former president and it was not approved for use by the former president for public purposes.”
Wolf appoints the police commissioners who oversee the state police.
The photo shows Trump standing in the middle of 31 uniformed troopers, and five men in plainclothes, and includes a Pennsylvania State Police banner for Troop P Wilkes-Barre.
As of Thursday, the photo was at the top of Trump’s “Truth Social” website, which has more than 4 million followers. Trump, who was banned from Twitter, uses the account to attack his political enemies and share polls that support his potential presidential candidacy in 2024.
His former deputy chief of staff, Dan Scavino Jr., also promoted the photo on Twitter after the Sept. 3 rally to his millions of followers.
9/3/2022 | Wilkes-Barre, PA pic.twitter.com/3aevzdaT2f
— Dan Scavino Jr.🇺🇸🦅 (@DanScavino) September 4, 2022
It was shared thousands of times on Twitter after a former federal prosecutor posted it, sparking outrage from people who questioned the propriety of troopers posing in the same photo with Trump on the campaign trail. Most police departments have policies forbidding political activity.
“You should have seen the look on my husband’s, a retired member of the PSP, face,” one woman posted. “This is not allowed for a reason and all should be publicly reprimanded!”
Commenters pointed to the Department of Justice investigation into classified documents that Trump took from the White House, and his role in the Jan. 6 riots, in questioning why troopers would want to pose with him.
“This is not ok. If they want to pose out of uniform their business but as representatives of a state agency &LE (law enforcement) this sends the wrong message to the people of the state of PA.” read another Twitter post.
“Law enforcement as props,” one person said. “This is so wrong,” posted another.
The Pennsylvania State Troopers Association, the union which represents PSP officers, has defended the photo, while not addressing the dissemination.
“Troopers providing dignitary protection have taken photographs with presidents dating back to Teddy Roosevelt. Anyone suggesting otherwise is either misinformed or politically motivated,” PSTA President David Kennedy wrote to PennLive in an emailed statement.
The union endorsed Trump in his failed 2020 re-election bid, like many other police agencies across the country.
A Pennsylvania State police spokesman said troopers at this “particular event were afforded an opportunity to gather for a photograph with the former President.”
Spokesman Myles Snyder said the photo was “not officially sanctioned and not disseminated by the agency.”
It raises questions then about whether the photo violated department policies that require approval for officers to “engage in any activity while in uniform, off duty, without the prior approval of their Commander/Director.”
Another policy says troopers: “shall not use their position for political influence.”
The interpretation of this policy is uncertain, especially since Trump is operating in the grey area of actively promoting the notion that he will run in 2024, despite not yet having formally declared his candidacy. The situation becomes even muddier if Trump and his former deputy chief of staff distributed the photo without the knowledge or permission of state police.
Snyder said PSP “does not endorse any political candidate or campaign.”
On Thursday, Snyder provided updated information that said photos like this are “customary” when dignitaries visit and troopers help with security.
In this case, troopers who were not “actively” assigned to a security post were allowed to pose with the former president “with the understanding that it would only be distributed to the troops in the photo as memorabilia,” Snyder said. “Troopers in the photo all voluntarily participated, again with the understanding that it was a photo op with the former president to be sent to them as memorabilia. It was not sanctioned or disseminated by the Pennsylvania State Police, nor was PSP asked permission to use the photo opportunity for anything other than a private photo with the former president.”
Experts say the photo could convey the appearance of an endorsement in the way the photo is being used by Trump, but that photos of former presidents posing with police officers is not unusual.
“I don’t think that’s terribly uncommon,” said Terry Madonna, a longtime political observer and senior fellow for political affairs at Millersville University. “The problem quite frankly is the controversies Trump is in magnify the appropriateness of this. That goes to the heart of it. If it weren’t for that, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.”
Photos of officers with dignitaries are usually taken for the benefit of the officer, as a keepsake, but here the photos appear to have been used to promote Trump or an image of Trump.
“The use of it is also an issue about whether that’s appropriate,” Madonna said.
The photo depicts 31 uniformed troopers, plus five non-uniformed, carefully arranged in rows both seated and standing with Trump at the center. A blue curtain is behind them with a large sign of the PSP seal and four American flags. The lighting is focused on Trump.
Although it is unclear who specifically took the photo, the image appears to originate with Trump’s political organization, having been first posted by Trump advisor Dan Scavino. It’s also unclear who brought the PSP sign to the event, which indicates some level of planning in advance for the photo opportunity.
Staff writer Zack Hoopes contributed reporting.
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