Election 2020 live updates: Trump heading to Ohio while Biden addresses Latino leaders

Local and national leaders pushed back Wednesday against Trump’s desire to deliver his convention acceptance speech from the White House, warning that the event could bring protests and novel coronavirus spread to the nation’s capital while violating historic norms that separate political activity from the seat of presidential power.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) predicted that a political convention gathering at the White House “won’t happen,” for legal and ethical reasons, while D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said she did not plan to offer “any exemptions” for the event from a recent health order that restricts the movement of nonessential visitors to the city from 27 states with elevated rates of the virus.

Members of the D.C. Council expressed alarm about the idea, and on Capitol Hill, some Republicans also voiced concern. Sen. John Cornyn (Tex.) called it “problematic,” Sen. John Thune (S.D.) questioned the legality of political events at the White House and Sen. Ron Johnson (Wis.) suggested that other plans should be made.