At his New Jersey golf club, Trump finds supportive audience

y hustled down stairs, rain dabbing ir polo shirts and golf attire, as y dashed inside clubhouse, drinks in ir hands and masks missing from ir faces.

It was an unexpected perk of ir country club membership: being audience for President Donald Trump’s hurriedly anunced news conference Friday evening at his course in Bedminster, New Jersey.

y were props in a surreal garing that violated COVID-19 safety guidelines but gave Trump a st on which to end his week by falsely claiming coronavirus pandemic ravaging nation and endangering his reelection campaign was “disappearing.”

As if it were a political rally, well-heeled crowd offered cheers and jeers as president delivered brosides against his political foes. Club members booed when a reporter suggested news conference violated social distancing regulations put in place by Gov. Phil Murphy, D-N.J.

“You’re wrong about that because it’s a political activity. y have expectations for political activities. And it’s also a peaceful protest,” Trump said. audience roared when president suggested that club’s members “kw news is fake.”

news conference was t on president’s daily schedule when it was released late Thursday. White House word about dition came less than an hour before Trump began talking.

Trump h flown in from Ohio to begin a three-day stay at club. He played a round of golf Friday and n met with campaign staff to map out next few weeks in a race that has seen him consistently trailing Democrat Joe Biden. Reporters traveling with president received tice in morning of a “lid,” which meant public appearances were expected rest of day.

As evening approached and rain moved in, lid was lifted.

Aides scrambled to get club rey. y set up presidential podium and monitors with office’s seal in a gilded room with chandeliers. It was same room, t far from fairways, where Trump, on ar August weekend three years ago, first said re was blame on “many sides” of clash between white supremacists and anti-racist protesters that h just occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Reporters arriving at club before news conference watched as members, many carrying glasses of wine, hurried from an upstairs dining room to first floor ballroom. y, like reporters, h ir temperatures checked. Neir group was given rapid COVID-19 test usually ministered by White House to anyone who will be near president.

After reporters tweeted that most in crowd, packed shoulder to shoulder, were t wearing masks, a staffer handed masks to anyone in audience who wanted one. Most, but t all, put on a face covering.

Murphy h tightened New Jersey’s restrictions this past week after a recent surge of cases. new coronavirus guidelines require that for any indoor event, “regardless of room’s capacity, maximum limit shall be 25 persons.” Face coverings are w required of workers and customers.

Trump argued that a “political event” could have up to 100 people, per guidelines. But number of people in that room, when including reporters and Secret Service nts, appeared to exceed that limit, and few were 6 feet (1.83 meters) apart.

Those concerns twithstanding, White House scheduled ar news conference at club for Saturday afteron. It was unclear wher members would be present.

Aides h suggested to reporters on Friday that president might sign executive orders that, despite questions about ir legality and potential effectiveness, were meant to bypass stalled negotiations about next round of ecomic assistance during pandemic. ministration’s talks with congressional leers h collapsed, endangering federal aid to workers and businesses struggling during an outbreak that has killed more than 160,000 Americans and cost tens of millions ir jobs.

president has t signed orders yet, inste wielding m as a potential threat for ar time, perhaps later Saturday.

At his news conference, Trump also promoted latest jobs report which, while surpassing expectations, lagged behind past two months and suggested ecomic recovery h stalled. He battled with reporters, cutting off one who tried to ask a question. He played down intelligence reports that Russia was trying to help his candidacy and that China and Iran were hoping for his defeat.

Trump also returned to his campaign’s newest attack line against Biden — that former vice president is under control of “rical” elements of Democrat Party.

In campaign meetings before his appearance in ballroom, president was shown polling data that indicated that he h narrowed gap against Biden in most battleground states, though Michigan, which he won in 2016, and Minnesota, which his campaign hoped to pluck from Democrats, were likely out of reach, according to two officials. y were t authorized to publicly discuss internal campaign matters and spoke on condition of anymity.

Details are soon to be finalized for Trump’s reimagined minating convention, which will w be based in and around nation’s capital. Though White House is still being considered for Trump’s acceptance speech, an idea that has drawn bipartisan blowback for using executive mansion for an explicitly political purpose, or options are in mix, according to officials.

president also is focusing on fundraising to bankroll stretch run. After a fundraiser at a yacht club on Lake Erie on Thursday, Trump planned to raise money at a pair of events Saturday in Hamptons on New York’s Long Island, including one hosted by his eldest son. On Sunday, before returning to Washington, Trump was scheduled to attend ar, in Deal, New Jersey, at home of late Stanley Chera, a friend and dor who died in April from coronavirus.

White House h said that Trump would skip his rmal lengthy August vacation in Bedminster this year to focus on pandemic and campaign. A plan to spend a week at club was scrapped., but he is set to return for ar long weekend, perhaps as soon as Wednesday.