The convention is being moved from Charlotte, North Carolina, after Democratic officials from Governor Roy Cooper’s office could not come to an agreement with the Republican National Committee (RNC) over safety and crowd size restrictions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Although the RNC has yet to make an official decision on a new host city, Justice said President Donald Trump called him earlier to inform him the convention won’t be in West Virginia. The governor said he knew the chances of hosting the convention in his state were “a long shot” but noted that he wanted the state “to be on the radar.”
“I wanted him to always know just how welcome he is in West Virginia,” Justice said about Trump during his daily briefing. “And any president, we should absolutely welcome all, but maybe not Barack Obama. But nevertheless, we’ll welcome any president.”
After the comment received some backlash, Justice released a statement saying his remarks were made specifically in response to “the Obama Administration’s War on Coal” and its effect on the West Virginia economy from 2008 to 2016.
“Everyone knows that President Obama made it a specific strategy to destroy our coal industry and power plants which, for more than a century, had been the lifeblood of West Virginia’s economy,” Justice wrote. “Before you know it, West Virginia was brought to our knees, especially southern West Virginia. I hated that so badly because the good people of West Virginia suffered beyond belief.
He went on to say he wants to love everybody, including Obama, “But, at the end of the day, what happened to West Virginia during his time in the Oval Office will take us decades and decades to recover from, if ever.”
Newsweek reached out to Justice for further comment but did not hear back before publication.
On Tuesday, Trump tweeted that the party has been “forced to seek another state to host” the convention because “Governor Cooper is still in shelter-in-place mode, and not allowing us to occupy the arena as originally anticipated and promised.”
Due to contractual agreements, the RNC will still have to hold some portion of the convention in Charlotte, but “the night the president accepts the nomination will not happen in Charlotte,” an RNC official told CNN.
