CARSON CITY (KTNV) — Tonight, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak issued the following statement on President Trump’s actions in Nevada this weekend:
Tonight, President Donald Trump is taking reckless and selfish actions that are putting countless lives in danger here in Nevada. Despite reports from his own White House, despite local officials in Southern and Northern Nevada reiterating to the venues the existing restrictions in State emergency directives, tonight, the President of the United States is knowingly packing thousands of people into an indoor venue to hold a political rally.
The President appears to have forgotten that this country is still in the middle of a global pandemic. Early on in this crisis, when it came time to exhibit real leadership and make difficult decisions to protect the American people, he failed to develop a unified national response strategy. To put it bluntly: he didn’t have the guts to make tough choices -- he left that to governors and the states. Now he’s decided he doesn’t have to respect our State’s laws. As usual, he doesn’t believe the rules apply to him.
Instead, he came into our State and blatantly disregarded the emergency directives and tough choices made to fight this pandemic and begin reopening our economy by hosting an indoor gathering that’s categorized as “high risk[cdc.gov]” according to his own CDC. This is an insult to every Nevadan who has followed the directives, made sacrifices, and put their neighbors before themselves. It’s also a direct threat to all of the recent progress we’ve made, and could potentially set us back.
As Governor, I have worked with public health and infectious disease specialists to create emergency directives to protect public health and get our economy back on track. That means limiting gathering sizes, mandating face coverings and practicing social distancing. All of which the President recklessly disregarded for his own gain this weekend in Nevada.
At a time when Nevada is focused on getting our economy back on track and protecting public health, the President’s actions this weekend are shameful, dangerous and irresponsible.
I want to thank the local governments - like the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority and the City of Henderson - who have done all they could to ensure businesses and visitors follow the state COVID-19 directives.
