The move came late Thursday following the publication of an ABC News report.
President Donald Trump is skipping campaign events temporarily amid the novel coronavirus pandemic and now his campaign and the Republican National Committee are shifting all current events on the schedule to virtual, RNC officials tell ABC News.
Details of how the RNC plans to shift events online were not immediately available.
The move came late Thursday following the publication of an ABC News report detailing hundreds of events that were slated to take place starting on Friday. Trump’s behemoth ground operation, a joint effort between the RNC and the campaign named Trump Victory, had planned an in-person “national week of training,” with events across the U.S., including in states that have declared a state of emergency — such as Florida and Colorado.
The official Trump campaign account had promoted the upcoming nationwide events on Twitter as recently as Wednesday.
Between March 13-19, Trump Victory had around 470 events stretched across dozens of states as the campaign turns toward the general election and ramps up its ground game effort.
The majority of the events were Trump Victory Leadership Trainings, which can usually feature between upwards of 100-200 people — sometimes much larger — and are volunteer training sessions specific to each state.
However, the Trump campaign also had other in-person events scheduled including door-knockings, phone banking meetups and “[Make America Great Again] meetups,” which are small gatherings of Trump supporters usually to watch a debate or event.
The president addressed the nation Wednesday night warning “older Americans should also avoid nonessential travel in crowded areas.”
Members of the president’s own coronavirus task force, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, have advised Americans to pause large gatherings.
“The bottom line: It is going to get worse,” Fauci told lawmakers on Capitol Hill Wednesday. “We would recommend that there not be large crowds.”
He added, “If that means not having any people in the audience where the NBA plays, so be it. But as a public health official, anything that has large crowds is something that would give a risk to spread.”
Amid the growing pandemic, the president made major changes to his travel schedule. He canceled plan tip out west including a fundraiser in Colorado with Sen. Corey Gardner.
Trump also postponed a recently announced “Catholics for Trump” kick off event he was set to attend next week in Milwaukee.
However, the president said on Thursday his next campaign rally in Tampa, Florida on March 29th may still be held, but added “we’ll probably not do it.”
