MADISON – Former President Donald Trump plans to be active both in and outside of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee next month, his campaign said Thursday.
The campaign also disputed a report that convention planners are preparing for a scenario in which the former president does not attend in person.
"At no time has convention planning involved any other option than President Trump accepting the formal nomination as president, in person. Period," Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The campaign is excited for voters across the country to tune into convention programming and watch the former president accept the nomination, she said.
Trump is scheduled to hold a campaign rally in Racine next week and, in a little more than a month, be officially named the GOP nominee in Milwaukee.
Leavitt's comments came in response to an NBC News report that preparations are being made both in Milwaukee and at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Florida home, in case he chooses not to attend or is unable to do so. On the same day, Punchbowl News reported that he referred to Milwaukee as a "horrible city" in a meeting with House Republicans — which a Trump spokesman characterized as "total bullsh*t."
Trump is scheduled to be sentenced July 11 after a juryconvicted him last week on all 34 felony countsin a case in which prosecutors said he had falsified business records to cover up a hush money payment to a p*rn star ahead of the 2016 presidential election. He is expected to appeal.
Thesentencing will come days before the Republican National Conventionkicks off at Fiserv Forum. Theconvention runs July 15-18, with a welcome party the night before it begins.
Last week, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatleytold reporters in Milwaukee that GOP officials are "excited" for the former president to accept the party's nomination in person, but "if we need to make contingent plans, we will."
The trialgalvanized support in the Republican Party, Whatley told reporters, noting asurge in fundraisingthe Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee say followed the verdict.
Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee to take on President Joe Biden, a Democrat, in a rematch of the 2020 race.
In thelatest Marquette University Law School poll, Wisconsin voters are split on their November choices for president. Those surveyed by Marquette considered Trump better than Biden at handling immigration and border security, plus the economy, the Israel-Hamas war and foreign relations. Biden had the lead on health care, abortion policy and Medicare and Social Security.
Voters overall ranked the economy as their top issue, with 33% saying it would be most important in deciding who to vote for. Immigration and border security was the second, with 21% citing that issue.
Trump's Thursday comments about Milwaukee came as he discussed campaign strategies, among other GOP priorities, ahead of the 2024 election with House Republicans.
"He never said it like how it’s been falsely characterized as," Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a post on X. Cheung said the former president was talking about crime and election issues, though members of Wisconsin's delegation didn't agree on which topic Trump was discussing.
Republican members of Wisconsin's congressional delegation had varying accounts of the comment's context, including one at first who denied it was uttered at all.
U.S. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald said in a Thursday interview with WISN-TV that Trump was asked about election integrity by U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney, of New York, and responded that there are 19 specific locations the campaign is concerned about — one of which is Milwaukee.
"What he was talking about was the elections in Milwaukee," Fitzgerald said.
Trump lost the state to Biden in 2020 by just about 21,000 votes. The results have been confirmed byrecounts in Dane and Milwaukee countiesthat Trump paid for, court rulings,a nonpartisan state auditand a study by the conservative legal firm Wisconsin Institute of Law & Liberty, among other analyses.
Biden, for his part, posted on X, "I happen to love Milwaukee," with a photo of the president at the 2021 celebration of the Milwaukee Bucks' NBA championship.
The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce released a statement praising Milwaukee as "vibrant"
"We look forward to showing the world what Milwaukee has to offer next month. We know this city will impress," the organization said.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley took a similar approach, saying, "The RNC still chose Milwaukee to come to, right?”
"It is my hope that not only our former president but everybody who is going to be embarking on Milwaukee sees everything that we have to offer," Crowley said.
Jessie Opoien can be reached at jessie.opoien@jrn.com.
