Trump’s Nevada campaign rallies at risk due to coronavirus health guidelines in battleground state

‘This is unprecedented – to cancel an incumbent President’s campaign stop inside 60 days of a major contested election in a swing state,’ Trump campaign co-chair says

President Donald Trump has planned two campaign rallies in Las Vegas and Reno for over the weekend, but they’re at risk after local officials revealed the gatherings would violate health guidelines related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Adam Laxalt, the co-chair of Trump’s campaign in Nevada, shared on Twitter on Wednesday that the president’s planned rally venues were cancelled on the campaign. He blamed the state’s Democratic governor, Steve Sisolak.

“Outrageous! @realDonaldTrump rally venues in NV canceled. Welcome to Sisolak’s Nevada – home of partisan political retribution,” he wrote. “This is unprecedented – to cancel an incumbent President’s campaign stop inside 60 days of a major contested election in a swing state. This isn’t over!”

After the tweet, it was reported by the Nevada Independent that the Reno Tahoe Airport Authority warned a company that planned to host a campaign rally of 5,000 people in a private hangar that it would be in violation of the state governor’s restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic. It also reportedly violated the terms of the company’s lease for the private hangar.

Joe Rajchel, a spokesman for McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, told the Associated Press that the airport never received a request from the Trump campaign to hold a rally, so there were no warnings or cancelling of event requests.

Mr Sisolak told KSNV he also had no involvement in why the rallies were allegedly cancelled this weekend.

"They know what the rules are. They clearly know what the rules are when they came in," he told the news organisation, adding that he has not been contacted by the Trump campaign or Mr Lexalt about guidance to hold the rallies.

Nevada currently remains in Phase 2 of its reopening plan, meaning public and private gatherings are limited to 50 people. The planned Trump campaign rallies would break this guidance if it were to allow thousands of people to gather in airplane hangars.

The state also requires mandatory face coverings to residents when they are out in public and at public venues.

Mr Sisolak then slammed the Trump administration for the planned rallies, as he said his state was just following the guidelines given to them from the White House’s coronavirus task force.

"Anyone that was attorney general knows that you're supposed to follow the laws, directives coming from the White House. I would assume they want to follow these directives," the governor said. "One of these rallies, the president speaks 60, 90 minutes, and they say not to be for more than 15 minutes."

Mr Sisolak added that he spoke to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Dr Deborah Birx, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, this week and asked if they still recommended for his state to follow guidelines related to gatherings.

"She said absolutely," the governor said about Dr Birx’s response.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said she was unaware of any venues cancelling on the president’s campaign rally.

“We believe that if people want to show up and express their political views, that’s their choice to do so,” she said, according to AP. “We hand out masks, we encourage individuals to wear those masks ... At the end of the day, if you want to join a peaceful protest you can do so. And there’s no reason, just like the protests we’ve seen in the streets, you can’t show up and express your political view at a rally.”

The Trump campaign said the rallies would still be held, but the exact details about these rallies would be released later ahead of the weekend.

The Nevada Democratic party released a statement against the planned rallies, saying: “The fact that Donald Trump was even considering holding these unsafe events in the midst of a global pandemic is just the latest example of his poor judgment and complete disregard for Nevadans' public health and safety."

Nevada, which holds six electoral votes in the upcoming presidential campaign, has become a battleground state for the election. The Trump campaign has indicated this state was a priority in its reelection efforts.

Mr Trump is also scheduled to hold a fundraising event in Las Vegas over the weekend.

The Associated Press contributed to this report