The campaign to reelect former President Donald Trump is walking back a report that the former president would be staying in Chicago rather than Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention.
Tuesday, ABC7 Chicago reported that three sources confirmed Trump would be staying in Chicago during the RNC, despite the convention taking place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Without traffic, Milwaukee and Chicago are about an hour and a half drive away or a short flight.
“President Trump is staying in Milwaukee,” the Trump campaign told the Washington Examiner.
A “high-ranking law enforcement source” told the Chicago-based outlet that Trump was planning on staying in Chicago and the report was confirmed by two other sources before the Trump campaign commented on the matter and denied the claim.
“We did have solid indications he was originally planning to stay in Chicago, at least for some period of time,” said Chicago Alderman Brian Hopkins, who’s also chairman of the city’s public safety committee.
“Campaigns change schedules all the time. The Trump campaign is like any other; they react to circumstances, they react to the optics, and I think, in this case, it looked pretty bad to not be staying in Wisconsin, which is a battleground state for him. So, frankly, I’m not surprised they changed their mind not to stay in Trump Tower,” Hopkins continued.
Trump has been under fire in recent days for reportedly calling Milwaukee a “horrible city.” Wisconsin’s Republican congressional lawmakers claimed he said that in the context of the city’s crime rate, which has dropped in the last year, and false claims of voter fraud in Milwaukee County.
At a Tuesday campaign rally in Racine, Wisconsin, a city situated between Milwaukee and Chicago on Lake Michigan, Trump retracted his comment, saying, “I love Milwaukee.”
Trump prefers to sleep in his own bed and oftentimes traveled far after campaign events during his 2016 run to get back to one of his properties to sleep, according to the New York Times.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“I have a beautiful hotel there, a beauty, as good as it gets,” Trump said on a local TV station on the topic of Chicago. “But I’m staying here.”
“Nothing is more on-brand for Donald Trump than the fact that he’d rather stay in a failing Trump-branded hotel in Chicago than spend a single night in beautiful Wisconsin,” said Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chairman Ben Wikler. “Only after he got caught did Trump make an embarrassing about-face and commit to spending the night in the city he called ‘horrible’ just last week. We’ll see if Donald Trump keeps his word this time — but we’re not holding our breath.”
