North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper says his state is working with RNC organizers despite Trump’s threat to pull the convention from his state.
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said plans for the Republican National Convention are still underway in his state despite President Donald Trump’s threat to pull the event if the Democratic governor doesn’t guarantee a full-scale gathering can be held there.
His comment comes as Republican governors in Florida and Georgia stepped up to offer to hold the convention in their states instead.
“We want to see from the RNC what their plans are and we’ve asked them to submit those plans to our public health officials,” Cooper told reporters Tuesday. “We look forward to the back-and-forth on that.”
He said officials expect to continue discussions with GOP leaders in the coming days.
North Carolina leaders have been in ongoing talks with Republican Party leaders about how the convention will be held depending on coronavirus pandemic conditions at the time. Cooper said health officials will be in contact with the RNC organizers again “later this week and next week” as they work to hammer down the contingency plans.
“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,” he said.
But the talks prompted Trump to tweet Monday that the convention, scheduled for August 24-27, could be moved if Cooper doesn’t give an answer “immediately” about what would be allowed.
“Plans are being made by many thousands of enthusiastic Republicans, and others, to head to beautiful North Carolina in August.
