RNC sends letter detailing safety conditions for 2020 convention, wants response from NC governor by June 3

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - The Republican National Committee has sent a letter to North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, detailing safety conditions for an August convention in Charlotte, and want a response by June 3.

“As we have previously discussed, it is our shared goal to host the Republican Nation Convention in Charlotte and to showcase the Queen City, and all of the Carolinas, to the entire world in August,” RNC Chairman Ronna McDaniel wrote.

The letter details safety protocols, awaiting approval from the governor including:

- Pre-travel health surveys through the RNC partnership with local health care providers.
- Daily health care questionnaires delivered via an app.
- Thermal scans of mandatory attendees prior to boarding sanitized, pre-arranged transportation.
- Anti-bacterial gel will be widely available.
- Aggressive sanitizing protocol for all public areas.
- Planned transportation buses will be dropped off at the Charlotte Convention Center which will act as a mandatory hub for a final health care screening by health care officials.
- All attendees would have to pass a clean health check prior to entering dedicated chute to the Spectrum Arena - where all attendees would then be processed through normal United States Secret Service screening with normal event queue lines.
- Media suites and hospitality areas will be subject to food service guidelines similar to any other restaurant.

“If there are any additional guidelines to what is outlined above that we will be expected to meet, you need to let us know by Wednesday, June 3. Time is of the essence,” the letter read.

The letter was first reported on by New York Times White House correspondent and CNN analyst Maggie Haberman.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump gave Gov. Cooper a week to make a decision about allowing full attendance at the Republican National Convention before considering other locations for the convention.

This came in response to a question about how long he would wait for Gov. Cooper to provide him the information he is looking for to host the RNC in Charlotte.

“We have a governor who doesn’t want to open up the state,” President Trump said. “We have a date at the end of August and we have to know before we spend millions and millions of dollars on an arena to make it magnificent for the convention.”

President Trump pointed out that the RNC has “tremendous” economic development consequences on the state.

“We have to know that when the people come down, they’re going to have the doors open - now if the governor can’t tell us very soon, unfortunately we’ll have no choice,” President Trump said.

President Trump talked about how he loves North Carolina and how it is a very important place to him.

“I’d love to have it in North Carolina. that was why I chose it, Charlotte - but we’re going to see,” President Trump said.

President Trump said he would say he needs to know if the governor can guarantee full attendance within a week before looking elsewhere for a location.

“If he feels that he’s not going to do it, all he has to do is tell us and then we’ll have to pick another locations and I will tell you a lot of locations want it,” President Trump said. “But I picked North Carolina because I do love that state and it would have been a perfect place for it and it still would be - but he’s got to say that when thousands of people come to the arena that they’ll be able to get in. Does that make sense?”

The full response to the question can be found here around the 21:44 minute mark of the video.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper responded to Monday tweets from President Donald Trump threatening to pull the Republican National Convention (RNC) from Charlotte if the state cannot guarantee full attendance at the convention.

Gov. Cooper said state officials have already been in talks with the RNC about the kind of convention they would need to hold and the kinds of options needed. The Republican National Convention is set for August 24 through August 27 at the Spectrum Center. It was expected to bring nearly 50,000 people to the city.

“We’re talking about something that’s going to happen three months from now, and we don’t know what our situation is going to be regarding COVID-19 in North Carolina,” Gov. Cooper said.

Gov. Cooper mentioned conversations state health officials have been having with the Carolina Panthers, Charlotte Hornets and other large arena owners about precautions to take when considering holding large events in North Carolina in the coming months.

“Everyone wants to get back into action soon,” Gov. Cooper said. "But I think everybody knows that we have to take some steps to make sure that people are protected, because this virus is still going to be with us in August and we’re going to have to take steps to protect people.

Gov. Cooper says officials have asked the RNC to present their written proposals for plans for the convention. Cooper said officials have had discussions about the possibility of a limited convention among other options.

Cooper said NASCAR did a great job of presenting their plans and adhering to many safety guidelines, and he looks forward to having positive conversations with the RNC as well.

“We’d like to reach a resolution that everyone can be reasonable about that puts public healthy, safety, the science and the facts as the number one thing we’re trying to do here,” Gov. Cooper said.

At a press conference Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the president wants to see the RNC go forward in North Carolina and sees “no reason not to” have the convention at this time.

Already, two other governors are offering up their states to host the Republican National Convention. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp sent an open plea to Trump on Tuesday to consider his state as an alternate site for the quadrennial convention, which is set to gather more than 2,500 delegates and thousands more guests, press and security officials.

Kemp’s offer was followed by one from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who told reporters at a Miami news conference that he “would love” to have the GOP or even the Democratic convention, as either would bring millions of dollars to the state.