Lara Trump on lack of distancing at president’s South Lawn speech: We encourage people to follow the guidelines

Lara Trump defended the lack of social distancing among audience members at President Trump’s Republican National Convention speech last week, saying, “We always encourage people to follow the guidelines” on preventing the spread of the coronavirus.

“We always, whether it’s at this event you saw, we always encourage people to follow the guidelines and do what they think is best for themselves,” Lara Trump, who is the president’s daughter-in-law and a campaign adviser, said on “Fox News Sunday.”

She added that the campaign “encouraged people to spread out” but said that “people always rush towards the front of the stage. They want to be around this president and pack themselves in.”

“At a certain point in this country, I think we all have to recognize that people want to get back to normal, and maybe it’s going to a Trump rally that does that, but we are always following the guidelines,” she added.

She also said that President Trump’s acceptance speech from the White House’s South Lawn was in “an outdoor venue” and invoked the mass protests against racism and police brutality that have recurred in the U.S. for months. 

“We either have to say everyone has to play by the same rules or we have to stop talking about it,” she said. 

Public health experts, including Anthony Fauci, initially expressed concerns that the mass demonstrations would spread the virus. However, cities that saw the largest demonstrations have not seen spikes in the virus.

Lara Trump on Sunday also addressed the president’s planned visit to Kenosha, Wis., which has erupted in both protests and riots since the police shooting of Jacob Blake earlier this month.

“The president is going there because he cares about every single American in this country,” she said.

Asked by Fox News’s Chris Wallace whether the president planned to meet or speak with Blake or his family, she responded, “I know he’s reached out to the Blake family, [but] I don’t know for sure if that’s on the agenda.”