President Trump is hosting an annual meeting of governors at the White House this month, but is doing something different this year. He is not inviting Democrats.
The meeting, part of the National Governors Association winter gathering, will only include Republican governors, according to multiple people familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss scheduling that was not public.
Mr. Trump is still planning to hold a separate, bipartisan dinner for governors and their spouses at the White House as part of the N.G.A. activities, but he personally blocked invites for two Democrats: Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland and Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado.
The president told staff members that he only wanted Republican governors for the meeting, which includes cabinet secretaries.
The N.G.A. alerted Democratic governors of the change by email on Friday morning.
“The president has decided to only invite Republican governors,” the email said, according to a copy obtained by The New York Times. “N.G.A. leadership has decided that this will not be an N.G.A. event, and no N.G.A. resources will be used to support transportation for this activity.”
Brandon Tatum, the acting chief executive of the N.G.A., said in a statement that the organization was “disappointed” in the administration’s decision.
“To disinvite individual governors to the White House sessions undermines an important opportunity for federal-state collaboration,” he said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It is unclear why Mr. Trump decided not to invite Mr. Polis and Mr. Moore, who is the vice chairman of the organization.
Mr. Trump has sparred with Mr. Polis in recent months, particularly over the Colorado governor’s refusal to pardon Tina Peters, a convicted election denier and supporter of Mr. Trump’s. Last December, the president vetoed a pipeline project to provide clean drinking water to Colorado’s eastern plains, and he said Mr. Polis should “rot in Hell.”
“Governor Polis has always been willing to work with anyone across the political spectrum who wants to help work on the hardest problems facing Colorado and America, regardless of party or who occupies the White House,” Shelby Wieman, a spokeswoman for Mr. Polis, said in a statement.
Mr. Moore has criticized the president over a range of issues, including his deployment of the National Guard to deter crime, and his immigration policies. A spokesman for Mr. Moore said the governor had not been told why he would not be invited, and noted that Mr. Moore was recently at the White House for discussions on energy policy.
“Governor Moore is disappointed to be excluded but is undeterred from his work to serve the people of Maryland and as vice chair of the National Governors Association,” David Turner, the spokesman, said in a statement.
But some of Mr. Trump’s most prominent critics, including Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois, are expected to be invited to the dinner. It is unclear whether they — or any other Democratic governors — will attend.
State leaders gather in Washington every winter for the annual N.G.A. meeting, a bipartisan organization of the nation’s governors. The president typically hosts governors at the White House for a session with White House staff members and cabinet secretaries on a Friday morning, then hosts a black-tie dinner for the governors and their spouses the next evening.
Last year, Mr. Trump sparred with Gov. Janet Mills of Maine during the session with governors at the White House. While speaking about an executive order he had signed banning transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports, he called out for Ms. Mills.
“Are you not going to comply with that?” he asked her.
“I’m complying with the state and federal laws,” she said.
The president said that “we are the federal law,” and threatened to withhold all federal funding from Maine.
“See you in court,” Ms. Mills shot back.
“Good, I’ll see you in court,” Mr. Trump said. “I look forward to that. That should be a real easy one.”
He added: “And enjoy your life after governor, because I don’t think you’ll be in elected politics.”
Ms. Mills is now running for a Senate seat in Maine.
Tyler Pager is a White House correspondent for The Times, covering President Trump and his administration.
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