WASHINGTON (TNND) — President Donald Trump will host governors from across the country on Friday for a bipartisan working breakfast amid heightened tensions over the exclusion of Democrats from Maryland and Colorado.
The National Governors Association (NGA) meets annually with the president during its conference in Washington, D.C., but withdrew from facilitating the meeting after Trump deemed Gov. Wes Moore and Gov. Jared Polis “not worthy.”
The president claimed Gov. Polis “unfairly incarcerated in solitary confinement a 73-year-old cancer-stricken woman for attempting to fight Democrat Voter Fraud” and called Gov. Moore “foul-mouthed” while accusing him of fraudulently stating he received military medals, doing a terrible job of rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge and allowing Baltimore to continue to be a “crime disaster.”
NGA CEO Brandon Tatum said in a statement that the organization has been “consistent that the National Governors Association cannot participate in a meeting that does not welcome all governors.”
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, who chairs the NGA, said he would attend the event, with the caveat that it is not considered an NGA event.
“You can invite whoever you want to the White House, but it can’t be an NGA event if it’s not inclusive to all 50 governors,” he said at an Economic Club of Washington, D.C. event.
Trump referred to Stitt last week as a “RINO,” meaning Republican in Name Only, in a fiery post on Truth Social.
“The RINO Governor of the Great State of Oklahoma, in which I won all 77 Counties, three times (The only person to do so!), incorrectly stated my position on the very exclusive Governors Annual Dinner and Meeting at the White House: “The White House intends to limit invitations to the annual business meeting, scheduled for February 20th, to Republican Governors only.” That is false!”
Moore said that being excluded from the event carries added weight because he is the nation’s only Black governor — whether or not that was the intent behind the decision.
“As the nation’s only Black governor, I can’t ignore that being singled out for exclusion from this bipartisan tradition carries an added weight — whether that was the intent or not,” he wrote on X.
A spokesperson for Polis called it a “disappointing decision for a traditionally bipartisan event between Governors and whomever occupies the White House.”
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