Trump will 'probably' accept Republican nomination in speech at White House despite minefield of ethics concerns

'It would be the easiest from the standpoint of security,' president says of plan that could violate Hatch Act

Republicans are considering using the South Lawn at the White House as the setting for Donald Trump's speech accepting the party's presidential nomination, exposing them to an array of ethics concerns.

The federal Hatch Act typically prevents a political candidate from using government employees and property for campaign purposes.

Still, Mr Trump said he would "probably" deliver his speech at the White House unless someone had a "problem" with it.

“We’re thinking about it. It would be the easiest from the standpoint of security,” Mr Trump said in an interview with Fox & Friends when asked about the possibility of delivering his acceptance speech from the White House.

“We’re thinking about doing it from the White House because there’s no movement and it’s easy,” he said, also noting that a speech from the White House would cost less money.

The Washington Post and Fox News were two of the first outlets to report the GOP's potential move to use the White House for Mr Trump's acceptance speech, citing sources familiar with the deliberations.

With Mr Trump to accept his nomination on the last day of the quadrennial Republican National Convention from 24 to 27 August, nothing has been set in stone with regards to the location of his acceptance speech, the outlets both reported.

Several legal and political ethics experts aired their frustrations about Republicans' new plans to use White House grounds for the speech, saying it puts Mr Trump's advisers at the White House at risk of violating the Hatch Act.

"Here we go .... again. A staged political event at the White House. Every White House staff member who participates in this violates the Hatch Act," tweeted Richard W Painter, the former chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W Bush.

Mr Trump was initially slated to deliver his keynote speech in Charlotte, North Carolina, the original site of this year's convention, but the president nixed those plans after publicly sparring with Democratic Governor Roy Cooper, who said they only way Republicans could hold the convention in his state was if they did so in compliance with social distancing guidelines.

Speaking events for the convention were subsequently moved to Jacksonville, Florida. But Mr Trump scrapped those plans in July after Covid-19 cases resurged in the Sunshine State.

Mr Trump — whose romp across US stages in 2016 at his signature raucous rallies put his penchant for controversy and showmanship on full display — has been largely confined to the White House this election cycle.

His most-publicised campaign rally, a 20 June event in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was widely panned as a flop and has been linked to a local surge of coronavirus cases in the city.

Some 6,200 people attended Mr Trump’s event at the 19,000-seat BOK Center arena in June — with Covid-19 concerns an apparent deterrent for some.

The rally is also where Tea Party favourite Herman Cain, a staunch Trump supporter, is believed to have contracted Covid-19, which ultimately killed him.

Early on during the pandemic, Mr Trump complained that the public concern over coronavirus was a Democratic "hoax" to keep him from holding his rallies and winning re-election against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden this fall.

Nearly 5m Americans have contracted Covid-19, and 159,000 have died.