CHARLOTTE – President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday evening that the 2020 Republican National Convention will no longer take place in Charlotte.
Trump said “Had long planned to have the Republican National Convention in Charlotte, a place I love. Roy Cooper and his representatives refuse to guarantee that we can have use of the Spectrum Arena… and not allowing us to occupy the arena as originally anticipated and promised. Would have showcased beautiful North Carolina to the world, brought in hundreds of millions of dollars. Because of Gov. Cooper, we are now forced to seek another state to hose the 2020 Republican National Convention.”
Earlier on Tuesday, RNC and convention officials said they had an obligation to visit multiple cities and states that had reached out to express interest in hosting.
A letter sent last week indicated that June 3 was the deadline the RNC and convention officials needed in order to proceed. Charlotte won the bid in 2018 to host the convention and staff has been in place in uptown Charlotte for over a year in order to plan the event.
Cooper remained defiant and suggested a scaled-down convention would be a necessity in response.
Late Tuesday night, Cooper responded to President Trump, saying “We have been committed to a safe RNC convention in North Carolina and it’s unfortunate they never agreed to scale down and make changes to keep people safe.”
