Milwaukee mayor Cavalier Johnson knocked down Donald Trump's attempt to whitewash his insults of Wisconsin's largest city, which will host the Republican National Convention in a matter of weeks.
Trump held a campaign rally Tuesday in Racine, days after he reportedly called Milwaukee a "horrible city" and hours after reports indicated he would not stay there during the RNC but instead bed down in his hotel in Chicago, and the presumptive GOP nominee tried to make amends.
“I love Milwaukee," Trump told a crowd of supporters. "I was the one who picked Milwaukee."
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However, the city's mayor strongly disputed Trump's characterization of that decision during an appearance late Tuesday on CNN.
"You know, it is really, really interesting, Abby, to hear former president Trump say now that he all of a sudden loves Milwaukee and that he even selected Milwaukee," Johnson told CNN's Abby Phillips. "Look, Abby, as you mentioned, I'm a Democrat and the mayor of the largest city in the state, and we're proud to host the Republican National Convention. We worked really, really hard to get the convention though. Folks at the RNC have been great. Right before I was initially elected mayor, I took time off the campaign trail to go to Washington, D.C., to go to the RNC headquarters, do the final pitch to bring the RNC here, and it was the RNC that selected Milwaukee."
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"I think I would remember if Donald Trump had anything to do with that," Johnson said. "He was nowhere to be found. That is a complete fabrication. I am stunned by that."
Johnson, who is the city's first Black mayor, helped court the RNC even before he was elected in April 2022 and met with then-chairwoman Ronna McDaniel during his campaign to make his pitch to for the city to host the convention, which comes four years after the COVID-19 pandemic forced Democrats to hold their convention virtually instead of in Milwaukee.
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