President Trump said Wednesday that almost all governors are welcome to the White House for an official meeting and dinner next week, although the Democratic governors of Maryland and Colorado are still excluded.
The White House was initially to exclude Democratic governors at a formal, usually bipartisan, business meeting on February 20 during the annual National Governors Association (NGA) conference, according to the NGA and a source familiar with White House planning.
And two Democratic governors, Wes Moore of Maryland and Jared Polis of Colorado, said they were informed by the NGA last Friday that they would not be invited to a separate dinner at the White House on February 21 with the president, governors and their spouses.
But after talks between the White House and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican who chairs the NGA, the organization and the president said Wednesday that governors from both parties are welcome to both the meeting and the dinner. Democratic governors began receiving invitations to the business meeting Wednesday night, although the NGA has not received updates on the White House dinner.
Governor Stitt on Wednesday informed the governors of all 55 states and territories that they are all invited to the official meeting on February 20.
“He has been very clear in his communications with me that this is a National Governors Association event and he looks forward to hosting you and hearing from governors across the country. President Trump said that was always his intent and we have addressed the scheduling misunderstanding,” Stitt wrote in a message to the governors obtained by CBS News.
In a Truth Social post Wednesday afternoon after Stitt’s message was sent, Mr. Trump wrote that Moore and Polis were still out. He suggested there was a misunderstanding between him and Stitt.
“Invitations have been sent to all but two governors who I don’t think deserve to be there,” Trump wrote, adding that he “even invited” two of his political enemies, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and California Gov. Gavin Newsom. “So, as usual with him, Stitt was wrong! The invitations went out to all the other governors, Democrat and Republican.”
Moore received another invitation Wednesday to the official meeting, according to a source familiar with the matter.
It is not clear if Polis received an invitation to that meeting as well. A spokesman for the Colorado governor said that “regardless of what events Colorado is invited to or not, Governor Polis will continue to focus on working with his fellow governors and anyone who wants to help improve people’s lives.” CBS News reached out to the White House.
The NGA said it was informed by the White House on February 5 that only Republican governors would be invited to the official business meeting. Because of these exclusions, the NGA said the next day that it would not facilitate that meeting or put it on the group’s official schedule. Stitt reiterated that in a letter to governors Monday and defended Moore as “an outstanding vice president” for the NGA.
After reports that Democratic governors were barred from the meeting, nearly every Democratic governor issued a joint statement Tuesday indicating they would not attend any White House events, including the dinner, in solidarity with Moore and Polis.
In his Wednesday post, Mr. Trump cited a disagreement over the jailing of former Colorado County election official Tina Peters as the reason he did not invite Polis. The president pushed Polis for months to grant clemency to Peters, who is serving a nine-year sentence on several state charges related to unauthorized access to voting machines.
And Mr. Trump called Moore “used” and claimed he embellished receiving military medals, although Moore said he was a “honest mistake” on a White House scholarship application in 2006. Since then, he has he received a bronze star for its deployment in Afghanistan.
The president also criticized Stitt, calling him a “RINO” or Republican in name only. Stitt endorsed former Trump opponent Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during the 2024 Republican presidential primary.
Moore called the decision not to invite him “yet another example of flagrant disrespect and an abandonment of the spirit of bipartisan federal-state partnership” in a statement earlier this week.
A Polis spokesman called it a “disappointing decision for a traditionally bipartisan event between governors and whoever occupies the White House.”
Governors from both parties attended a White House meeting and dinner during last year’s conference. The meeting drew attention for a verbal spat between Mr. Trump and Maine’s Democratic governor, Janet Mills, in which the president pressed Mills on the issue of transgender women in sports, and Mills responded, “See you in court.”
Details of new footage of subject in Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance
Watch: Rep. Lieu accuses Bondi of lying under oath in the Epstein files surrounding Trump
Masked, gloved subject seen in video approaching Nancy Guthrie’s door