President Trump announced that he will attend a firework display at Mount Rushmore on July 3, despite uncertainty about what the coronavirus pandemic might look like that month.
Trump made the announcement while speaking on the Dan Bongino podcast on Friday.
“We’re getting them at the great monument, we're getting them, I got fireworks, for 20 years or something it hasn’t been allowed for environmental reasons, you believe that one, it’s all stone. So I’m trying to say where’s the environmental reason? Anyway I got it approved so I’m going to go there on July 3rd, and they’re gonna have the big fireworks,” Trump said.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said on Tuesday that the firework display would go on as scheduled.
"We’re excited that this will be happening at Mount Rushmore — we’ve been working on this for quite some time," Noem said.
"I want to thank the President and the Department of Interior for working with us to make it happen," she added.
When asked about implications of a large gathering amid the nationwide Covid-19 pandemic, Noem was unconcerned.
"We’ll continue to evaluate what the crowd looks like and how we'll be able to facilitate that event but regardless of how many people will be there, the fireworks will go off and I can't think of a better way for us to celebrate America’s birthday," Noem said.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, the President had floated the idea of heading to South Dakota for fireworks at Mount Rushmore.