When Republicans renominate Donald Trump for president in Charlotte, N.C., on Aug. 24, journalists won't be on hand to witness it, a convention spokesperson told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette this week.
Reporters also will be kept from the room when the Republican National Committee meets to conduct official party business.
The spokesperson couldn't say whether C-SPAN, the nonprofit public service network, would be allowed to air the proceedings.
"[W]e are planning for all of the Charlotte activities to be closed press: Friday, August 21 – Monday, 24th given the health restrictions and limitations in place in the state," the convention spokesperson said in an email. "We are happy to let you know if this changes, but we are working within the parameters set before us by state and local guidelines regarding the number of people who can attend events."
President Donald Trump’s idea to give his nomination acceptance speech from the South Lawn of the White House may be legal -- for him. But it lays out a minefield of problems for the staff charged with putting such an event together.
Legal experts said White House staff would violate the federal Hatch Act by planning or participating in such an event. The Hatch Act bars U.S. government employees from conducting any political activities during work hours, while in a government building or while wearing a government uniform.
The president -- as Trump himself highlighted Wednesday -- and vice president are exempt from the law. But everyone else who works at the White House, from the chief of staff to the groundskeepers and event planners, are not.
“There is a legitimate objection to this. It’s never been done before and it involves massive use of White House personnel,” said Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration.
Trump on Wednesday said that not only would the proposed speech location be legal for him, but using the White House would save “tremendous amounts of money for the government.”
“It would be by far the least expensive location,” he said at a news conference. “There’d be very little in terms of that tremendous traveling security with airplanes and everybody flying all over the place. So I think it would be a very convenient idea, something that we threw out to be very cost conscious by comparison to any other location.”
But Painter said every federal employee who attends the event in their official capacity would be breaking the law.
I think they're closing it to the public/press because they don't want the commoners to see how utterly dysfunctional they are as a political party. Too bad, it could have been a ton of fun.
Posts: 35428 | Location: West: North and South! | Registered: 20 April 2005
