No, the Fraternal Order of Police didn’t rescind its endorsement of President Donald Trump

In September, the Fraternal Order of Police, an organization of law enforcement officers, endorsed President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election. 

“Public safety and border security will be important issues in the last months of this campaign,” Patrick Yoes, the group’s president, said in a statement. “Our members carefully considered the positions of the candidates on the issues and there was no doubt — zero doubt — as to who they want as our president for the next four years.” 

Four months later, in Trump’s first week of office, some social media users claimed the group was yanking its support. 

“The Fraternal Order of Police, the largest police union in the country, just released a statement rescinding their endorsement of President Trump due to his pardoning of Jan. 6 insurrectionists,” a Jan. 23 Threads post said. 

It included a screenshot of a Jan. 22 Newsweek article with this headline: “Police union that endorsed Trump condemns Jan 6 pardons — ‘dangerous message’.’’

The Threads post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

On Jan. 20, the first day of his second term in office, Trump fulfilled a campaign promise he made in 2022: to grant “full pardons” to people convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol. 

The Fraternal Order of Police and the International Association of Chiefs of Police issued a statement in response Jan. 21. 

The statement said the groups were “deeply discouraged by the recent pardons and commutations granted by both the Biden and Trump administrations to individuals convicted of killing or assaulting law enforcement officers.”

The statement said the groups “believe those convicted of such crimes should serve their full sentences,” adding that “it sends a dangerous message that the consequences for attacking law enforcement are not severe, potentially emboldening others to commit similar acts of violence.”

The statement does not rescind the Fraternal Order of Police’s endorsement of Trump. And it also criticizes former President Joe Biden who, before he left office, commuted the life sentences of two Virginia men who had pleaded guilty in connection with the killing of a police officer in the state and of indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, who was convicted of killing two FBI agents in South Dakota.

The Newsweek article featured in the Threads post mentions this. It doesn’t say that the Fraternal Order of Police rescinded its Trump endorsement.

Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, told PolitiFact the group “has not, and will not, rescind its endorsement of President Donald J. Trump.”  

We rate it False.

UPDATE, Jan. 29: We updated this story to include comments from the Fraternal Order of Police’s executive director.