Republican National Committee officials are in Savannah on Monday to check out the possibility that the Georgia city will host President Donald Trump's nomination acceptance speech in August, CBS News has reported.
The GOP convention was originally set to take place in Charlotte, but the RNC and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper have failed to reach a deal over health and safety conditions and the size of the crowds that would be permitted to attend the acceptance speech.
Cooper said the RNC wanted a capacity 19,000-person crowd inside the arena, but North Carolina could not guarantee that so many people would be allowed due to the coronavirus crisis and expressed concerns about how the GOP would carry out social distancing and implement measures to keep attendees safe.
Trump has insisted on a packed arena with no social distancing and no masks for his speech, according to the Charlotte Business Journal.
It appears as of now that Charlotte will still host much of the formal portion of the convention, but Trump’s speech will take place in another city.
Republican convention president and CEO Marcia Lee Kelly is touring the Savannah Convention Center and the surrounding area on Monday to determine its suitability with city officials and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, who hopes to host the convention in his state.
RNC officials also are expected to conduct similar visits in Phoenix and Dallas later this week, while other candidate cities, such as Nashville, already have been scouted out.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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