President Donald Trump said Monday that his acceptance speech for the Republican presidential nomination will be held at either the White House or the Gettysburg battlefield.
“We have narrowed the Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech, to be delivered on the final night of the Convention (Thursday), to two locations - The Great Battlefield of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and the White House, Washington, D.C.,” he tweeted.
He tweeted that a decision on the location of the Aug. 27 speech will be made soon.
Both sites are federal property raising legal and ethical issues for their use in a political event. The Civil War battlefield in Pennsylvania could also resurface the president’s defense of monuments to heroes of Confederacy.
The formal Republican National Convention is set for Charlotte where the RNC is planning to host 336 delegates, 6 from every state and territory.
Vice President Mike Pence told WCNC in July that Trump was planning to accept the nomination in Charlotte, but those plans quickly faded when the president suggested giving his acceptance speech from the White House last week.
Using the Rose Garden, the Executive Mansion or even the Oval Office as the backdrop for his speech next month would mark an unprecedented use of public property for partisan political purposes.
Critics allege it would violate ethics laws, such as the Hatch Act, which limits political activity by federal workers. The president is exempt from the Hatch Act, however, and few government staffers have faced penalties under the law.
Presumptive Democratic nominee Vice President Joe Biden has already said he will not travel to the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee. Instead he will accept the Democratic nomination for president from his home state of Delaware.
