Trump scraps plan for Election Night party at his DC hotel

President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would not hold his election night party as scheduled at his family’s hotel in the nation’s capital, instead maybe moving it to the White House, as the President blamed virus restrictions in the District of Columbia.

“You know, Washington, D.C. is shut down,” the President told reporters at the White House. “The mayor has shut it down.”

The President indicated he would likely hold a gathering on Tuesday night at the White House, or maybe even go to another location.

While Washington, D.C. is still limiting the size of gatherings because of the Coronavirus, President Trump is holding campaign events around the nation with few restrictions related to the virus.

“We’ll be doing a lot of rallies,” Mr. Trump said. “We have some big ones.”

Democrats criticized the President for all but abandoning any pretense of following guidelines from the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

“Remember: the President of the United States is holding a rally in Minnesota today with no social distancing, no mask requirements and no contact tracing as cases skyrocket in our state,” said Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), a frequent target of Mr. Trump.

“The President is a threat to public health,” Omar tweeted.

The aggressive Trump campaign travel strategy comes at the same time cases have jumped dramatically across the nation, as hospitalizations and deaths have also increased.

New records for COVID-19 cases again came from Minnesota, Iowa, the Dakotas, Montana, Utah, and a range of other states - with much of the growth in areas which support Republicans at the ballot box.

In Iowa - which set records for cases in a single day and the number of hospitalizations - Joe Biden again said President Trump’s handling of the outbreak was a disaster.

“The Iowa State fair was canceled for the first time since World War II,” Biden said, “and Donald Trump has given up.”