Vice President Mike Pence said the Trump campaign had identified a new venue for the president’s comeback rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“It’s all a work in progress. We’ve had such an overwhelming response that we’re also looking at another venue. We’re also looking at outside activities,” Pence said on Fox News’s Fox and Friends on Tuesday. More than 1 million supporters have requested tickets to the June 20 event, he said.
It’s not clear why the move is being contemplated. And Pence did not say what he meant by “outside activities,” though criticism is mounting that the scheduled indoor event could spread the coronavirus.
A source with knowledge of the issue said the new venue is the Cox Business Convention Center, a 310,625-square-foot facility in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma, which recently completed a $55 million renovation. The Cox Center is next door to the Bank of Oklahoma Center, the original venue announced by the Trump campaign on Friday. The venue could still change, however, the source said.
Democrats have charged that Trump was putting his supporters “in harm’s way” by holding the event.
Concern about potential coronavirus spread “is one of the reasons why we’re going to do the temperature screening, and we’re going to provide hand sanitizers and provide masks for people that are attending,” Pence said. “One of the reasons that we chose Oklahoma is because Oklahoma has done such a remarkable job in reopening their state.”
Speaking to reporters Monday, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway described such measures as a “recognition that there’s guidelines in place that should be followed.”
Asked about the potential for coronavirus transmission at the event, Oklahoma Health Commissioner Lance Frye told the Washington Examiner in a statement that officials “strongly encourage” that anyone planning to attend a large event take a coronavirus test ahead of the gathering, among other precautions.
“We continue to strongly encourage those who intend to participate in a large gathering to plan ahead by getting tested for COVID-19 and by minimizing social interactions or excursions in the days leading up to the event,” Frye said in an email. “When you are at the event, do not touch your face, use hand sanitizer, stay six feet of distant from others, wear a mask, and then seek to get retested and minimize contact in the days following.”
“The campaign takes the health and safety of rally-goers seriously and is taking precautions to make the rally safe,” the Trump campaign’s principal deputy communications director, Erin Perrine, said in an email.
