by Andrew Trunsky
President Donald Trump said during a Thursday interview with the New York Post that he intends to accept the Republican presidential nomination on the White House lawn.
“I’ll probably be giving my speech at the White House because it is a great place. It’s a place that makes me feel good, it makes the country feel good,” Trump told the Post.
“We’d probably do it outside on one of the lawns, we have various lawns, so we could have it outside in terms of the China virus. We could have quite a group of people. It’s very big, a very big lawn,” he added.
He confirmed his intention to choose the White House Lawn after previously considering it along with other locations such as Gettysburg, the Post reported.
The location has drawn criticism from some in Washington, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said on MSNBC last Wednesday that Trump’s consideration of the White House lawn was “very wrong.”
“Whether it’s legally wrong or ethically out of the question, it shouldn’t have even been something that was expressed,” the California Democrat said.
Speaker Pelosi says President Trump would "politicize" and "degrade" the White House by delivering an acceptance speech for the GOP presidential nomination at the White House and that the idea "should be rejected right out of hand."https://t.co/9EGFKiZgBw
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 5, 2020
The decision comes after the Republican National Committee (RNC) canceled their scaled-back convention in Jacksonville, Florida, due to the coronavirus pandemic. The RNC had already moved their convention out of Charlotte, North Carolina when Gov. Roy Cooper refused to let the event proceed without social-distancing restrictions in place.
Trump is set to deliver his speech on the last night of the convention, which spans from Aug. 24-27, according to the GOP 2020 Convention website.
The Democratic National Convention (DNC), which was originally planned to occur in Milwaukee but is now mostly virtual, begins Monday, Aug. 17, according to the DNC’s website.
– – –
Andrew Trunsky is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation.
