Trump wants Republican National Convention to stay in North Carolina

President Trump said Monday that he’d like the Republican National Convention to remain in North Carolina — despite noting headwinds from Democrats who lead state and local governments — and shot down rumors that he was considering hosting the August event at Trump National Doral Miami.

“I have zero interest in moving the Republican National Convention to Doral in Miami, as falsely reported by the Fake News @nytimes in order to stir up trouble,” Trump tweeted. “Ballroom is not nearly big enough & would like to stay in N.C., whose gov. doesn’t even know if he can let people in?”

Last year, the White House announced plans to host this year’s G7 summit at Trump’s Miami-area resort, before relocating the site to Camp David.

Earlier Monday, Trump torched North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, writing on Twitter that Republicans would be “reluctantly forced” to relocate the convention if Cooper did not allow it to proceed citing coronavirus concerns.

“Unfortunately, Democrat Governor, @RoyCooperNC is still in Shutdown mood & unable to guarantee that by August we will be allowed full attendance in the Arena,” Trump wrote. “In other words, we would be spending millions of dollars building the Arena to a very high standard without even knowing if the Democrat Governor would allow the Republican Party to fully occupy the space.”

Trump added in his morning tweets: “Plans are being made by many thousands of enthusiastic Republicans, and others, to head to beautiful North Carolina in August. They must be immediately given an answer by the Governor as to whether or not the space will be allowed to be fully occupied. If not, we will be reluctantly forced to find, with all of the jobs and economic development it brings, another Republican National Convention site. This is not something I want to do.”

The Republican Party has already committed large sums of money to host the convention in Charlotte and relocating to a different city would incur significant costs. Republican leaders are moving forward with plans for a standard convention as Democrats consider moving their convention in Milwaukee online after already shifting July dates to August.