Alabama officials CANCELS Trump rally at the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park because they were concerned it would be ‘too partisan’
- Donald Trump was supposed to speak at the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park on Saturday, but the event was canceled for being to ‘partisan’
- Trump will hold his second post-presidency rally in Tampa, Florida on Saturday
- Park Commissioner Bill Tunnell said they nixed the event when Trump was invited to be the keynote speaker
- ‘[I]t became apparent that it was going to be a partisan political event, rather than just a patriotic event planned for that evening,’ Tunnell said
A park commission in Mobile, Alabama cancelled a July 3 event where Donald Trump was scheduled as the keynote speaker after the chairman claimed the event was becoming ‘too partisan.’
‘After the request was made, then there was contact with the Republican Party, they contacted us and then it became apparent that it was going to be a partisan political event, rather than just a patriotic event planned for that evening,’ commission chairman Bill Tunnell told a local NBC affiliate in Alabama.
Trump, according to the report, was supposed to be the keynote speaker at a Saturday event at the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile, Alabama – the day before Independence Day.
A spokesperson for the former president did not respond to a DailyMail.com request for comment on the reported plans.
Donald Trump was supposed to speak at the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park on Saturday, but the event was canceled for being to ‘partisan’
Instead, Trump will hold a rally in Tampa, Florida on Saturday – the second post-presidency rally. Here the former president arrives for a rally in Ohio June 26, 2021
Park Commissioner Bill Tunnell said they decided to nix the event when Trump became the keynote speaker. He said it could no longer be just a ‘patriotic event’
Alabama Republican Party Chairman John Wahl told NBC 15 that Trump had committed for Saturday night and was excited to speak to the Port City.
Wahl added that Trump is disappointed the event is not moving forward.
Currently, the president is scheduled to hold a rally in Tampa, Florida on Saturday. This is the second rally he is holding post-presidency. The first was in Ohio on June 26.
Tunnel says commissioners asked Attorney General Steve Marshall in May about the invitation for Trump to speak. In the response, the attorney general said there was not enough time to issue a formal opinion.
Marshall did say, however, that the park is able to be used for political events as long as access is ‘available for all political parties and candidates on an equal basis.’
Former Pennsylvania Republican Senator Rick Santorum previously used the same park for a political rally in his 2012 presidential campaign, which Tunnell said was the reason he no longer wants the park used for partisan events.
‘Rick Santorum was the straw that broke the camel’s back. And that’s when the commission went to the no partisan politics open to the public,’ Tunnell said.
Former Republican Sen. Rick Santorum used the same park for a political rally in his 2012, which Tunnell said was the reason he doesn’t want the park used for partisan events anymore