Trump Says GOP ‘Forced’ to Seek New City for Party Convention

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump said the Republican Party has been “forced to seek” a new city for its national convention, planned for Charlotte, North Carolina, in August, because of coronavirus restrictions put in place by the state's governor.

The president, in a series of tweets on Tuesday night, did not say what other cities were being considered or if the party was definitely pulling out of Charlotte.

“Had long planned to have the Republican National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, a place I love,” Trump said. “Now, @NC_Governor Roy Cooper and his representatives refuse to guarantee that we can have use of the Spectrum Arena - Spend millions of dollars, have everybody arrive, and then tell them they will not be able to gain entry. Governor Cooper is still in Shelter-In-Place Mode, and not allowing us to occupy the arena as originally anticipated and promised.”

A Republican National Committee official, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive party deliberations, said that Trump's acceptance speech would be held in another city, but the party still hoped to conduct its official convention business in Charlotte, if public health rules permit it in August.

Trump made the announcement as cable news channels played footage of a large group of demonstrators gathering outside Lafayette Park, an area across from the White House that was cleared of peaceful protesters one day earlier in order for the president to stage a photo op at a historic church nearby.

Earlier: North Carolina Governor Demands Smaller Republican Convention

State officials and party leaders have been negotiating the logistics of the event in a time of social distancing. Finding a new venue now would be an enormous undertaking. Tennessee's governor, Bill Lee, said GOP scouts would be coming to Nashville on Thursday.

Last month, Vice President Mike Pence floated Florida, Georgia and Texas as alternatives, while Georgia Governor Brian Kemp tweeted that the state would welcome him. Those states, like Tennessee, all have Republican governors.

Cooper, a Democrat, has asked that the convention be scaled back out of concern about the coronavirus pandemic.

In a letter Monday responding to Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel and the committee's president, Marcia Lee Kelly, Cooper said his state could not agree to their demands for a “‘full convention' which includes 19,000 delegates,” as well as “full hotels and restaurants and bars at capacity.”

Trump last week threatened to move the convention to a different city if Cooper would not comply with his request for a convention featuring all 50,000 expected participants. Cooper's letter was sent one day before the RNC's self-imposed June 3 deadline to receive a guarantee from the governor that they could hold a full-fledged event.

In a Twitter post after the president tweeted, Cooper said, “We have been committed to a safe RNC convention in North Carolina and it's unfortunate they never agreed to scale down and make changes to keep people safe.”

“Protecting public health and safety during this pandemic is a priority,” he added.

Democratic Party leaders have been trying to come up with contingency convention plans amid the pandemic, with some delegates having expressed concern over traveling to Milwaukee for the nomination of former Vice President Joe Biden.

The Democratic National Committee has already approved a plan to allow delegates to vote remotely, and moved the event from mid-July to the week of Aug 17.

Biden told CNN last week that if “I have anything to do with it,” there will be a physical gathering to celebrate his nomination, though he emphasized that the decision would be guided by public health experts.