Schedule conflicts leads Nevada AG to skip White House event
WASHINGTON — Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford attended the National Association of Attorneys General winter meeting in Washington, but did not attend an NAAG event at the White House Monday afternoon.
Asked if he was boycotting the White House, Ford told the Review-Journal, “Definitely not.”
Last month, Gov. Steve Sisolak boycotted two National Governors Association events at the Trump White House as well as a lunch at Vice President Mike Pence’s office to protest the Department of Energy shipping a half-ton of weapons-grade plutonium to a federal facility in Nevada prior to Sisolak’s election.
In this case, Ford Chief of Staff Jessica Adair said in a statement to the Review-Journal: “The recently scheduled White House visit conflicts with a presentation on tackling the opioid crisis AG Ford is planning to attend, and therefore he will not be participating in that visit. He is, however, grateful that other Democratic attorneys general will be in attendance, and he looks forward to hearing about their visit.”
According to the White House, a bipartisan group of 31 state attorneys general, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, attended the event.
After conveying his condolences to those affected by tornadoes in Alabama and Georgia, President Donald Trump used the occasion to talk about border security and the crisis at the Southwest border.
“I urge everyone here today to make sure that your states and cities are fully cooperating with the Department of Homeland Security,” Trump said.
Contact Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7391. Follow @DebraJSaunders.