President Donald Trump has told North Carolina to guarantee a full-attendance Republican National Convention in late August, or else he will find a new host.
Now, he says, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has a "week" to comply.
"We need a fast decision from the governor," Trump told reporters in the White House Rose Garden on Tuesday. "He's been acting very, very slow and suspiciously.
"I would say, 'yeah, within a week,'" Trump added. "If he can't do it – 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 location.
"Now, I will tell you a lot of locations want it."
Democrats had been weighing a virtual convention, moving their Democratic National Convention back to August, but Republicans have remained adamant of having a fully attended RNC for donors and supporters.
"Well, as you know, we don't have much time, because we have to know, if we're going to spend millions of dollars on an arena," Trump said. "We want to be in North Carolina. I love North Carolina. I won North Carolina."
Trump added "we have a governor that doesn't want to open up the state."
"The economic development consequences are tremendous for the state," Trump continued. "We have to know when the people come down, they're going to have the doors open. Now, if the governor can't tell us fairly soon, unfortunately, we'll have no choice.
"This has nothing to do with us. This is between the governor and the people of North Carolina."
Trump ripped his political opposition for weaponizing extended coronavirus shutdowns, saying "a lot of the Democrats, for political reasons, don't want to open up their states."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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