Trump declares slain NYPD cop’s death must not be in vain after attending wake: ‘Something has to come out of it’

Former President Donald Trump honored fallen hero NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller as “top of his class” at his Long Island wake Thursday — as three other living presidents rubbed elbows with celebrities at a $25 million fundraiser that shut down Midtown Manhattan.

“In life, some things just capture a moment and this captured a moment,” Trump told The Post after leaving the emotional wake at Massapequa Funeral Home.

“This particular great officer, top of his class — he captured a moment. The perfect family has been so tragically altered, forever altered.”

The Republican presidential nominee flew into Long Island to meet with grieving relatives and hundreds of uniformed officers. He said he spoke with Diller’s widow, Stephanie, and met his 1-year-old son, Ryan.

“I was telling Stephanie, the wife, who’s incredible, a 1-year-old baby who doesn’t know that his life has been greatly affected by this,” Trump said from his private plane on the tarmac at MacArthur Airport.

“I said something has to come out of it, and the only thing that you could really think that could come out of it is we get stronger and tougher so this doesn’t keep happening.”

Outside the funeral home, Trump railed to mourners that cop slayings are “happening all too often” in America.

“We have to do a lot of things differently because this is not working,” Trump said.

“The only thing we can say is maybe something’s going to be learned,” he continued. “We’ve gotta toughen it up and strengthen it up. Things like this shouldn’t take place and take place so often.”

As a soft rain fell on Nassau County, hundreds of New York’s Finest and officers from other parts of the region huddled under tents as they waited to pay their respects to Diller. A wall of flowers lined the road, including a touching arrangement shaped like a police shield bearing Diller’s badge number.

“I’ve been a police officer in New York for 11 years now,” said Nick, who works at the Strategic Response Group in Brooklyn.

“I’ve been to too many of these, unfortunately, but when it’s one of us, when it’s a police officer, we all show up, rain or shine.”

He added, “That’s our brother in there. It’s like losing a family member. Whether you knew him or not. It hits us all.”

Trump’s appearance at Diller’s wake came as President Biden and former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama met in the Big Apple for a record-setting, star-studded fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall.

“People were very, very, very blessed to have someone like President Trump, who cared so much, spent a lot of time with the family,” said Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, calling Trump’s visit “very comforting” to the Diller family.

Trump, who said the Diller kin invited him to the wake, called for a crackdown on crime as he ripped the 31-year-old officer’s suspected killer, Guy Rivera, as a “thug.”

“This isn’t just a New York thing,” he said. “I saw police officers from other states. I saw Texas, I saw Ohio. So this has captured a moment, and I think it’s captured it from the standpoint that we have to get tough on crime, we have to get tough on criminals.”

Trump also slammed New York City’s recently passed How Many Stops Act, which goes into effect in July and requires NYPD cops to document even their most minor interactions with the public.

“I think it’s sad, and I know many police are complaining about it vehemently. They’re devoting more time to paperwork now than they are to policing and this is what’s happening,” said Trump.

“It’s not going to have any impact other than it’s going to give criminals more time to roam.”

“We have to cherish our police, not defund our police,” he added.

Diller was on patrol in Far Rockaway on Monday when he was allegedly shot and killed by Rivera, a ruthless ex-con with 21 prior arrests, who was riding with a career-criminal pal.

In just three years on the job, Diller had more than 70 busts under his belt and was part of what relatives called “the real Blue Bloods family” — a reference to the hit CBS series about a family of Big Apple police officers.

Diller, whose brother-in-law and cousin are both cops, leaves behind his wife, Stephanie, and their young son, Ryan.

Hoboken resident Deanna Vollmer, who said she went to John Street elementary school in Franklin Square with Diller, said “it was hard to process” the news.

“I was just at a loss for words,” she said of hearing of the tragedy. “It’s never something you want to hear, but it hits different when it’s someone you know.”

“It’s the right thing to do to pay respects to the family,” she said. “It’s hard to process.”

Diller’s funeral is scheduled at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at St. Rose of Lima R.C. Church, also in Massapequa, followed by burial at St. Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale.

Rivera, who was wounded in an exchange of gunfire with other cops, was officially charged from his hospital bed Thursday with murder, attempted murder and weapons possession.