Trump threatens to change GOP convention site if full attendance not allowed

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the Republican National Convention scheduled in August in North Carolina would be "reluctantly forced" to move to a new site if the southern state's governor cannot guarantee the party's "full attendance" at the event.

Trump complained on Twitter that the state's Democratic Governor Roy Cooper is in "Shutdown mood & unable to guarantee that by August we will be allowed ... full attendance in the Arena."

"Plans are being made by many thousands of enthusiastic Republicans, and others, to head to beautiful North Carolina in August. They must be immediately given an answer by the Governor as to whether or not the space will be allowed to be fully occupied. If not, we will be reluctantly forced ... to find, with all of the jobs and economic development it brings, another Republican National Convention site," the president tweeted.

The Republican National Convention is planned to take place on Aug 24-27 in Charlotte, the state's largest city, while the Democratic National Convention is scheduled to take place a week earlier in Milwaukee after being rescheduled from July due to the coronavirus pandemic.