Back on! Donald Trump campaign says Phoenix event canceled, then he tweets he’s coming
Aug 26, 2016, 3:24 PM | Updated: Aug 28, 2016, 5:49 pm
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at Joni's Roast and Ride at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, in Des Moines, Iowa, Saturday, Aug. 27, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
PHOENIX — Will it happen?
Confusion is a good word to describe Donald Trump’s visit to Arizona next Wednesday.
After confirming the campaign was scouting the Phoenix-area on Tuesday, it was announced on Wednesday that he would be visiting downtown Phoenix next week and the speech would be about immigration.
Later in the evening, the campaign referred to it as a “staff error” to say it would be a policy speech about immigration and that it would be a speech about unity.
Friday, just after 3 p.m. the campaign announced that the Arizona event would not be taking place next week at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Phoenix and that the campaign looks “forward to having another Arizona visit soon.”
Less than two hours later, the Republican presidential nominee himself tweeted that he would indeed be in Phoenix and that the demand for the event was high.
Will be in Phoenix, Arizona on Wednesday. Changing venue to much larger one. Demand is unreal. Polls looking great! #ImWithYou
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 26, 2016
The jury was still out if Trump was actually going to make a Phoenix appearance, until the Republican tweeted out another affirmation Sunday evening that he would speak in the desert, and confirmed it would be on immigration.
I will be making a major speech on ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION on Wednesday in the GREAT State of Arizona. Big crowds, looking for a larger venue.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 28, 2016
Trumps’ immigration plan has been in the news in recent weeks, and it’s assumed that he will provide more detailed information regarding his plan.
After initially taking a hard-line stance against illegal immigration, Trump appeared to back down this week, promising to be “fair, but firm” toward the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally.
The billionaire businessman, whose hard-line approach to immigration and fierce rhetoric propelled him to the GOP presidential nomination, insisted that he’s not “flip-flopping” on the divisive issue as he works to broaden his support two-and-a-half months before the general election.
The speech would be the second time his campaign visits Arizona during August. His vice presidential candidate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, hosted a town hall at the Phoenix Convention Center on Aug. 2.
The upcoming speech would have been Trump’s fifth visit to the Valley since launching his campaign last year. The events have drawn large crowds of both supporters and protesters.
He used a December event in Mesa to call for a halt to illegal immigration. Trump said, if the illegal immigration process is not halted, Americans will lose the country.
“If we don’t stop [illegal immigration], we don’t have a country,” he told a crowd of thousands inside an airport hangar at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.
KTAR’s Ashley Flood and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
