2020年9月13日 星期日

Trump Will Hold Indoor Rally in Nevada, Likely Violating State’s Coronavirus Restrictions

President Donald Trump speaks during a Latinos for Trump Coalition roundtable meeting at the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino on September 13, 2020, in Las Vegas, Nevada. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/Getty Images

President Donald Trump will host his first entirely indoor rally in almost three months on Sunday night and will likely violate Nevada’s Covid-19 restrictions in the process. Thousands are expected to attend Trump’s campaign rally in Henderson, Nevada on Sunday night, a move that would likely violate the state’s restrictions on gatherings of 50 people or more. It will mark the president’s first indoor rally since June 20, when Trump held a sparsely attended event in Tulsa, Oklahoma that was engulfed in controversy. That rally preceded a surge in Covid-19 infections in the city and a Tulsa health official later said the rally likely contributed to that trend.

Henderson has already warned Xtreme Manufacturing, the company hosting the rally, that it will be violating state restrictions on large gatherings if it goes forward with the event. “The City of Henderson has issued a compliance letter and verbal warning to the event organizer that the event as planned would be in direct violation of the governor’s COVID-19 emergency directives. Specifically, gatherings of more than 50 people in a private or public setting is prohibited,” City of Henderson spokeswoman Kathleen Richards told CNN in a statement. “Large live events must be approved by the Nevada Department of Business and Industry, Division of Industrial Relations and at this time, the City has not been notified that this event has been approved. The City may assess a fine of up to $500 per violation of the governor’s directives as well as suspend or revoke the business license.”

It doesn’t seem the company much cares about the threat of fines though. The owner of the firm, Don Ahern, also owns a hotel in Las Vegas that was fined after holding an “Evangelicals for Trump” event. Asked to comment, the Trump campaign pushed back against the criticism, saying everyone attending the event will get a temperature check and will be provided with a face mask. “If you can join tens of thousands of people protesting in the streets, gamble in a casino, or burn down small businesses in riots, you can gather peacefully under the 1st Amendment to hear from the President of the United States,” a Trump campaign official said. The Biden campaign criticized the decision to hold the rally indoors, saying it reflects “the same toxic attitude that has crippled Trump’s incoherent pandemic response, cost over 193,000 Americans their lives, killed millions of jobs, and needlessly torn the nation apart when we need to come together in this moment of crisis,” spokesman Andrew Bates tweeted.



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