Clinton, Trump postpone Charlotte visits at request of mayor, governor
CHARLOTTE, NC
Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton have postponed scheduled visits to Charlotte after a televised plea from Mayor Jennifer Roberts and, in the case of Trump, a request from Gov. Pat McCrory.
Clinton had announced a Sunday morning visit, likely to an African American church, after her campaign conferred earlier Friday with city officials.
And Trump had earlier announced a Tuesday appearance, which would have been his first following Monday’s first presidential debate.
Both visits could have come during the state of emergency that has followed Tuesday’s police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott and the violent protests that followed.
City and Clinton campaign officials say the campaign had conferred with city staff about a Sunday visit before announcing it at around 4:30 p.m. Friday. Then later Roberts cautioned against the campaign visits during an appearance on CNN.
“We appreciate the support of the candidates,” she told CNN’s Erin Burnett. “We appreciate that they are concerned about Charlotte. At this point, we do have very stretched resources for security and they are working around the clock.
“If there would be a way to delay those visits in terms of giving us a chance to get our city back to order and back to more of a state of normalcy, that would probably be ideal.”
Trump’s decision came after a phone conversation late this week from McCrory.
“The governor was concerned about resources and was grateful for Mr. Trump’s interest and hopes to welcome him to North Carolina after the state of emergency has been lifted,” McCrory spokesman Ricky Diaz said Saturday.
Trump mocked Clinton’s decision in a tweet late Friday night.
“Crooked Hillary's bad judgement [sic] forced her to announce that she would go to Charlotte on Saturday to grandstand. Dem pols said no way, dumb!
Gregg Watkins, a spokesman for Roberts, said between the time the mayor’s office talked to the Clinton campaign Friday afternoon and the time she went on CNN, they realized that it would not be prudent to have the presidential campaigns come in on top of everything else.
“We asked that the campaigns delay their visits to a more convenient time because we’re concerned about stretching our law enforcement resources too thin at a very unusual and critical time,” Watkins said.
Clinton will come to North Carolina Tuesday, but not Charlotte. Her campaign has not announced where she will go.
CHARLOTTE, NC
Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton have postponed scheduled visits to Charlotte after a televised plea from Mayor Jennifer Roberts and, in the case of Trump, a request from Gov. Pat McCrory.
Clinton had announced a Sunday morning visit, likely to an African American church, after her campaign conferred earlier Friday with city officials.
And Trump had earlier announced a Tuesday appearance, which would have been his first following Monday’s first presidential debate.
Both visits could have come during the state of emergency that has followed Tuesday’s police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott and the violent protests that followed.
City and Clinton campaign officials say the campaign had conferred with city staff about a Sunday visit before announcing it at around 4:30 p.m. Friday. Then later Roberts cautioned against the campaign visits during an appearance on CNN.
“We appreciate the support of the candidates,” she told CNN’s Erin Burnett. “We appreciate that they are concerned about Charlotte. At this point, we do have very stretched resources for security and they are working around the clock.
“If there would be a way to delay those visits in terms of giving us a chance to get our city back to order and back to more of a state of normalcy, that would probably be ideal.”
Trump’s decision came after a phone conversation late this week from McCrory.
“The governor was concerned about resources and was grateful for Mr. Trump’s interest and hopes to welcome him to North Carolina after the state of emergency has been lifted,” McCrory spokesman Ricky Diaz said Saturday.
Trump mocked Clinton’s decision in a tweet late Friday night.
“Crooked Hillary's bad judgement [sic] forced her to announce that she would go to Charlotte on Saturday to grandstand. Dem pols said no way, dumb!
Gregg Watkins, a spokesman for Roberts, said between the time the mayor’s office talked to the Clinton campaign Friday afternoon and the time she went on CNN, they realized that it would not be prudent to have the presidential campaigns come in on top of everything else.
“We asked that the campaigns delay their visits to a more convenient time because we’re concerned about stretching our law enforcement resources too thin at a very unusual and critical time,” Watkins said.
Clinton will come to North Carolina Tuesday, but not Charlotte. Her campaign has not announced where she will go.
