President Trump said in a Twitter post Friday that he’s staying in Washington, D.C., instead of going to his golf club in New Jersey over the weekend “to make sure LAW & ORDER is enforced” in the nation’s capital.
The president was scheduled to depart the White House for his Bedminster property later Friday and return to Washington, D.C., on Sunday. His tweet Friday evening was the first explanation he gave as to why the plans were canceled.
Trump put off the trip to New Jersey as COVID-19 cases continued to rise in a number of states, raising new concerns for public health and the economy.
“I was going to go to Bedminster, New Jersey, this weekend, but wanted to stay in Washington, D.C. to make sure LAW & ORDER is enforced,” he said in a tweet. “The arsonists, anarchists, looters, and agitators have been largely stopped. I am doing what is necessary to keep our communities safe — and these people will be brought to Justice!”
Washington has seen waves of heated protests near the White House since the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in police custody on May 25.
At one point during the protests, Trump was moved to the White House’s underground bunker as protesters and Secret Service agents clashed and demonstrators pulled metal barricades away from the White House gates.
Trump has taken an aggressive stance on protests in Washington and elsewhere and has called for the military to intervene. Earlier this month federal law enforcement used chemical agents to disperse protesters at Lafayette Square so the president could take a photo at St. John’s Episcopal Church.
In the past week Trump has visited and held large events in Oklahoma and Arizona, where coronavirus cases are on the rise.
New Jersey, New York and Connecticut announced earlier this week that visitors from states with large numbers of coronavirus cases, including Arizona, would be required to quarantine for two weeks.
When asked if the president’s trip cancelation had to do with the new restrictions, White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere said “It has nothing to do with that.”