During his Wednesday morning press conference, Justice stepped away for a brief period to take a call from President Donald Trump.
Fittingly, reporters’ questions included not only the content of the call, but Justice’s relationship with Trump and the possibility of the Republican National Convention coming to West Virginia.
The RNC coming to Charleston was a long shot, Justice said, and Trump confirmed that during the call. It’s going elsewhere.
The two also talked about the protests across the country following the killing of George Floyd, some of which are resulting in violence and looting, Justice said, and about the economic meltdown that accompanied the pandemic.
Justice aired his view that everyone has the right to protest; the despicable acts of the officer who killed Floyd and those who watched it happen don’t represent what this country is about.
At the close of the briefing, however, Justice made a parting comment that made him chuckle — but that lit up social media, with some accusing the governor of racism.
“I want [Trump] to always know how welcome he is in West Virginia. Any president, we should absolutely welcome all — maybe not Barack Obama — but nevertheless, we’ll welcome any president,” Justice said.
It drew enough response that Justice issued a release after the briefing, in an attempt to clarify his statement.
“Everyone knows that President Obama made it a specific strategy to destroy our coal industry and power plants, which, for more than a century, had been the lifeblood of West Virginia’s economy,” Justice said. “Before you know it, West Virginia was brought to our knees, especially southern West Virginia. I hated that so badly because the good people of West Virginia suffered beyond belief.
“I want to love everybody, and by that, I mean everybody, including President Obama,” Justice said. “But, at the end of the day, what happened to West Virginia during his time in the Oval Office will take us decades and decades to recover from, if ever.”
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