WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump plans to address the nation from the Lincoln Memorial on July 4 as part of an overhauled celebration of the nation’s Independence Day, D.C. city officials and U.S. Park Police said Wednesday.
The president had previously floated the idea of speaking at the nationally televised event, but his participation had not been confirmed. Trump’s appearance is likely to bring with it a host of new security and logistical challenges and reshape a decades-old, nonpartisan celebration that annually draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city’s monumental core.
Sgt. Eduardo Delgado, a spokesman for the U.S. Park Police, confirmed the agency has been notified that Trump plans to speak at the memorial. He said the agency was working with the White House to determine how the president’s movements would affect security surrounding the event, and the Park Police was awaiting details from the Secret Service about the timing and duration of the speech.
“It’s still kind of an evolving event,” Delgado said.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on Wednesday told The Washington Post that she had learned from the National Park Service that the president plans to speak during the storied event.
A spokesman for the National Park Service declined to comment. “The White House will make a statement,” said Mike Litterst, the spokesman. “We continue to work with the White House on creating a Salute to America program that will bring Americans from all over the country together in [a] celebration of our great nation.”
A White House official could not immediately confirm the president’s plans.
Bowser has opposed Trump’s efforts to take over the July 4 celebration and inject himself into the program, citing security and logistics concerns.
Trump, however, wants to refashion the event as “A Salute to America,” the culmination of two years of attempts to hold a grand patriotic display centered on him and his supporters.
Last month, Bowser said she hoped the president would refrain from divisive rhetoric if he appeared on the Mall on July 4.
“The president can speak at any event that he wants to speak at,” Bowser said in an interview. “And my great hope would be that he recognizes that the event is a unifying event that celebrates the birthday of our nation.”
An overhauled Fourth of July celebration is among the top priorities for new Interior Secretary David Bernhardt.
The Trump administration also plans to move the fireworks display from the usual location on the Mall to West Potomac Park.
The event may feature a second entertainment stage in addition to the standard free concert on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol.
Kim Dine, a former assistant D.C. police chief and former chief of the U.S. Capitol Police, said the president’s changes to the celebration complicate what had been a well-choreographed event.
Dine said Trump’s speech from the Lincoln Memorial could restrict the movement of people, depending on the time.
The security needed to protect the president in a public place could make it difficult for people to move or to watch both the speech and the fireworks.
“Managing large crowds is doable, but difficult,” Dine said. “And when you have the added challenge of VIP presence, or POTUS presence, and the massive amount of security that attends to him, that’s adds significantly to the whole equation.”
Trump previously clashed with local Washington, D.C., officials over his plans to hold a grand military parade down Pennsylvania Avenue. He backed off the idea last year as concerns about expenses grew, and claimed without evidence that city officials inflated costs.
Public presidential appearances are still rare in Washington, D.C., because of security reasons. No president has participated in a Fourth of July celebration on the Mall in recent memory, usually celebrating instead at the White House.
President Ronald Reagan participated in a “Star Spangled Salute to America” at the Jefferson Memorial on July 3, 1987, which showcased an economic announcement, but the regular fireworks celebration happened the next day as usual.
President Harry Truman delivered a speech from the Washington Monument on July 4, 1951 to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence
President Abraham Lincoln delivered a belated “Fourth of July” speech from a second-floor window of the White House on July 7, 1863, according to the National Park Service.