President Donald Trump on Friday morning canceled his scheduled weekend trip to his private golf club in Bedminster, N.J.
The trip had drawn criticism as Trump said he would not follow New Jersey guidelines and would ignore a mandatory 14-day quarantine for travelers coming from states with coronavirus spikes. Trump visited Arizona on Tuesday amid a rapid rise in cases there.
White House spokesman Judd Deere had justified the decision by claiming “the president of the United States is not a civilian.” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy told CNN that Trump did not have to follow the quarantine guidelines because he is considered an essential worker.
The president was set to leave the White House for Trump National Golf Club on Friday afternoon. The White House did not immediately provide an explanation for the change in plans.
A senior official in the Murphy administration said the governor’s office did not speak with the White House about the quarantine order, and had no idea what prompted the president’s cancellation. A weather forecast showed that thundershowers are expected to hit the area over the weekend.
New Jersey has recorded 14,872 coronavirus deaths and 170,196 positive tests as of June 25, according to the COVID Tracking Project. The state has suffered the second-most deaths and the third-most positive tests in the United States.
When Trump traveled to his Sterling, Va., golf club in May as the American coronavirus death tally approached six figures, Joe Biden’s campaign pounced on the outing with an attack ad.
“Nearly 100,000 Americans have died. The death roll is rising,” the ad read. “The President is playing golf.”
Trump was forced to cancel a trip to Bedminster in early June amid the protests against police brutality following the death of George Floyd in police custody.
