March 12, 2020 09:26 AM UTC

Wait, What? Trump Holding Event for Gardner at White House?

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE #6: The Colorado Times Recorder has the latest damage control report.

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UPDATE #5: And now they’re blaming reporters. The ONLY event that had been publicly announced for Friday was a fundraiser in Colorado for Cory Gardner. Why would a reporter assume there was something different?

This is how bad info spreads.

The Gardner event in the White House is a conservation roundtable, but the reporter assumed (before checking) it was a political fundraiser.

Now a top political reporter in Colorado is amplifying the incorrect info. Confusion abounds. #COpolitics pic.twitter.com/IN2wHyfMwc

— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) March 12, 2020

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UPDATE #4: Cory Gardner’s campaign spokesperson is spinning furiously on Twitter:

We are working on holding a conservation roundtable about fully funding LWCF. Obviously this is not a fundraiser or campaign event. #copolitics #cosen https://t.co/b2BvcQur2v

— Jerrod Dobkin (@jmdobkin) March 12, 2020

What LWCF event? This has never been announced before. And why is Cory Gardner’s Senate campaign announcing an official White House event?

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UPDATE #3: Here’s Larry Ryckman, editor of The Colorado Sun:

A fundraiser for @SenCoryGardner at the White House — and during a national crisis and global pandemic? Wow. #copolitics https://t.co/6ZUsBdgk8P

— Larry Ryckman ☀️ (@larryryckman) March 12, 2020

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UPDATE #2: Here’s Denver Post reporter Justin Wingerter:

Trump in the Oval: “I was going to Colorado, where we have Cory Gardner running, and he’s doing a great job by the way. He’s done a fantastic job. But we postponed that. I think we’re going to have Cory coming in here, maybe on Friday. We’re going to do our event from the WH.”

— Justin Wingerter (@JustinWingerter) March 12, 2020

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UPDATE: More White House reporters scratching their heads:

Trump just said he’ll host a Cory Gardner fundraiser at the White House, since he had to reschedule his CO event for him?

“I think we’re going to have Cory coming in here. We’re going to do our event from the White House.”

— Annie Karni (@anniekarni) March 12, 2020

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The White House announced on Wednesday that President Trump was cancelling a planned trip to Colorado for a Friday fundraiser to benefit the re-election campaign of Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma).

But as journalist Suzanne Lynch Tweeted out today:

#Trump is going to hold #CoryGardner event in the #WhiteHouse on Friday… pic.twitter.com/SKcf19NRUr

— Suzanne Lynch (@suzannelynch1) March 12, 2020

First of all, Trump can’t host a fundraiser for a political campaign at the White House, so it’s not clear what this event might actually entail. Then again, we’re saying this under the assumption that President Trump pays any attention whatsoever to The Hatch Act.

We’re also a bit perplexed that anybody would want to go to the White House at the moment, given that President Trump has been exposed to the Coronavirus (or, potentially, has exposed others):

The president has now had contact with a confirmed coronavirus case https://t.co/DidixNjANB

— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) March 12, 2020

So many questions. We’ll update with answers when they become available.