People cheer for US President Donald Trump after he spoke during an indoor campaign rally at Xtreme Manufacturing in Henderson, a suburb of Las Vegas, Nevada, on September 13, 2020. Photographer: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Donald Trump held his first indoor rally in nearly three months in defiance of Nevada regulations barring large gatherings, prompting the state’s governor to accuse the president of endangering lives with “reckless and selfish actions.”

The president’s campaign scheduled the Sunday event at Xtreme Manufacturing’s warehouse in Henderson, Nevada, after the airport authority in nearby Las Vegas rejected plans to use an outdoor hangar because it violated state regulations prohibiting gatherings of more than 50 people.

Trump defended the indoor rally, telling attendees that he was blocked from using multiple “exterior sites” his campaign had secured and suggesting political motivations.

“We had five sites, all outside sites like last night, tremendous room, and a great gentleman who owns this building said, you know what what, what they’re doing is really unfair, you can use my building,” Trump said.

Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, has denied his office directly intervened to cancel the outdoor rallies. But on Sunday he tweeted that the president “appears to have forgotten that this country is still in the middle of a global pandemic.”

Rally Is ‘Direct Threat’

“This is an insult to every Nevadan who has followed the directives, made sacrifices, and put their neighbors before themselves,” Sisolak said. “It’s also a direct threat to all of the recent progress we’ve made, and could potentially set us back.” He said Trump’s actions put “countless lives in danger.”

Reporters for major television networks opted not to cover the rally in person, citing safety concerns in the face of the pandemic, which has left nearly 200,000 Americans dead. Of the five major U.S. television networks, only Fox News — which was the designated “pool” network transmitting video for all of the networks — was inside the manufacturing hall.

The Trump campaign said every attendee at the rally was given a temperature check prior to admission and provided hand sanitizer and a mask they were encouraged to wear. The majority opted not to wear their masks during the event.

“If you can join tens of thousands of people protesting in the streets, gamble in a casino, or burn down small businesses in riots, you can gather peacefully under the 1st Amendment to hear from the President of the United States,” Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said in a statement.

Democratic nominee Joe Biden released a statement Saturday saying the president’s rallies were “reckless” and “ignore the realities of COVID-19 and endanger public health.”

The city of Henderson warned Xtreme Manufacturing that its business license could be suspended or revoked over the event, according to KVVU-TV in Las Vegas.

After Trump’s last indoor rally on June 20 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the state department of health reported a record number of coronavirus cases in the three weeks following the rally. Six staffers on the president’s advance team for the rally tested positive ahead of the event.

At the rally, Trump sought to put a positive spin on his handling of the pandemic, pledging a vaccine before the end of the year and inviting the crowd to compare the U.S.’s record to that of other places.

“Did you see the statistics of us compared to other countries? Us compared to Europe?” he asked the crowd, contending the U.S. response compared favorably.

Europe, which has a population roughly one and a half times that of the U.S., has had 184,000 deaths and 2.6 million cases, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. The U.S., despite its smaller population, has had 194,000 deaths and 6.5 million cases. Trump also undercounted the numbers of deaths in the U.S., saying the number is 180,000.

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