President Trump explained his decision to cancel the Republican National Convention events that were scheduled for next month in Jacksonville, Florida, in an exclusive interview Thursday “Hannity.”
Citing the growing numbers of COVID-19 in the state, Trump told Sean Hannity that he is “setting an example” with the last-minute change, which he hopes will encourage citizens to practice social distancing.
TRUMP ANNOUNCES THAT JACKSONVILLE PART OF THE GOP CONVENTION WILL BE CANCELED
“It is really the China virus, call it COVID, call it by any one of many different names,” Trump said, “but we are setting the example. We don’t want to have people so close together.”
Trump announced the cancellation during a White House press conference Thursday morning, telling reporters that “the timing for this event is … just not right.”
The Republican National Committee (RNC) chose Jacksonville last month to host large portions of the convention, after largely abandoning the city of Charlotte, North Carolina, over disagreements over coronavirus-related crowd restrictions.
Trump told Hannity that he was expecting a big event in North Carolina, and criticized Democratic Governor Roy Cooper, who he said “could have treated us better.”
“We have been so enthusiastic that everyone wanted to go,” he said. “You know we went to North Carolina, we wanted to do it there. Everything was ready. We would build a beautiful facility, and he was hit hard, and then the governor really could have treated us better. Democratic governor, but we’re actually opening there.”
JACKSONVILLE SHERIFF WARNS REPUBLICAN CONVENTION BETWEEN CORONAVIRUS COULD PUT COMMUNITY AT RISK
While the Jacksonville portion of the convention has been canceled, Trump said delegates will still meet in North Carolina and that he will give an address when he accepts the nomination.
“It won’t be a typical convention, I can say that,” acknowledged the president, “but it’s going to be very safe and I thought I had an obligation not to have large numbers, large numbers crowded into a room.”
Bill Stepien, manager of Trump’s re-election campaign, praised the move in a statement, writing: “Leading by example, President Trump has put the health and safety of the American people first with his decision on the Jacksonville convention.” .
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And the Florida Republican Party tweeted that Trump “made a disinterested decision to cancel the FL component of the @GOP Convention.”
Andrew O’Reilly and Paul Steinhauser of Fox News contributed to this report.
