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Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday that President Trump will be holding “full rallies” with safety precautions in place now that coronavirus restrictions across the country are being lifted.
On Monday, Fox News was told that the president would resume hosting campaign rallies sometime in the next two weeks, returning one of the president’s most potent weapons to his arsenal as the 2020 campaign season enters a pivotal stretch.
Trump had suspended the rallies, which energize his base and allow his team to collect a treasure trove of voter data, in early March amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Monday’s announcement that the rallies would resume comes as some polls show the president’s support significantly trailing rival Joe Biden.
“When we went to North Carolina and I spoke to the governor talking about the convention, we were talking about doing temperature checks, testing everybody before they came in, lots of precautions to make sure we’re putting the safety of convention-goers first,” McDaniel said. “I think that will be the same with the rallies.”
“There are a lot of things we can do to make sure this is safe, but people want to get out and rally. They want to get out and start campaigning and being part of this election for this president and the enthusiasm for him is through the roof,” McDaniel added.
She also weighed in on the nationwide search for a new site to hold at least part of this summer’s Republican National Convention.
RNC officials toured Nashville, Tenn., and Savannah, Ga., over the last several days to consider potential new locations for the convention, which is set to take place from Aug. 24-27. Republican National Committee officials will meet in Phoenix on Tuesday as their latest stop in the nationwide search, Fox News has learned.
RNC BROADENS SEARCH FOR CITY TO HOST CONVENTION CELEBRATIONS
The locations that RNC officials have been weighing would host the “celebrations” segment of the convention—which would include President Trump’s nomination speech, a balloon drop and more celebratory events typically associated with the convention, the source told Fox News.
The RNC has been moving toward holding the official business of its quadrennial presidential nominating convention in the original host city of Charlotte, N.C. – and the main celebrations in another city. The party selected Charlotte two years ago as the site of the 2020 convention.
“The president loves North Carolina,” McDaniel said on Tuesday. “We really wanted to have it in North Carolina because he loves the people of North Carolina and you have this Democrat governor who really, I think, has played politics and [has] not given us guidelines to prevent us from holding the celebration.”
She added that several states, including Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida, Texas and Tennessee “have come and said, ‘We want to host your convention.’”
The moves by the RNC come after North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, said leaders needed to provide plans for a scaled-down event due coronavirus pandemic health concerns. The party pressed for a full convention, which Cooper essentially said they could not accommodate.
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McDaniel said RNC officials will “have to make a decision probably within the next week as to where we’re going to have this celebration.”
Fox News’ John Roberts, Gregg Re, Brooke Singman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
