Trump Attacks Nevada Governor After Controversial Indoor Rally, Says He Is Not Afraid Of Getting COVID-19

President Donald Trump attacked Democratic Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal after he held a controversial indoor rally in the city of Henderson over the weekend. Trump claimed Sisolak thwarted his attempts to hold the rally at an outside venue, instead choosing to have the event inside the Xtreme Manufacturing Facility on Sunday.

“They canceled six different sites because the governor wouldn’t let it happen, all external sites,” Trump told the Review-Journal in an article published Sunday. Trump dismissed the governor as a “political hack.”

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sisolak had ordered that indoor events have no more than 50 people. Trump suggested that the order did not apply to his event and that he was not afraid of contracting the virus.

“I’m on a stage and it’s very far away,” Trump said. “And so I’m not at all concerned.”

Thousands of Trump supporters attended the Henderson rally. Sisolak decried Trump’s decision to hold the indoor event as “reckless and selfish.”

"This is an insult to every Nevadan who has followed the directives, made sacrifices, and put their neighbors before themselves,” Sisolak tweeted on Sunday. "It's also a direct threat to all of the recent progress we've made and could potentially set us back."

Trump had held an indoor rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June, drawing 6,200 supporters. Health officials blamed the rally for “likely” contributing to a surge in COVID-19 cases in the area.

The rally in Nevada was an attempt by the Trump campaign to gain support in a state that the president narrowly lost in 2016. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton defeated Trump in Nevada by less than 3 points, 47.9% to 45.5%.

Nevada has 6 electoral votes in the electoral college. A recent Siena College/New York Times survey shows Joe Biden with 46% support in the state, with Trump at 42% support.