President Trump holding 'campaign event' in Florida Saturday
Trump had criticized President Obama for campaigning while in office.
— -- President Donald Trump took office just weeks ago, but now he is set to travel to Orlando Saturday for what the White House has termed “a campaign event.”
The event, which is listed on Trump’s campaign website, will take place at a hangar at the Orlando-Melbourne International Airport, the site of a previous Trump campaign rally in September.
Trump repeatedly took aim at former President Barack Obama for his campaign efforts while in office.
Asked about the event Wednesday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer called the rally “a campaign event” and said it is “being run by the campaign.”
On the day of his inauguration, Trump filed paperwork with the Federal Election Committee indicating a possible re-election bid in 2020. Trump wrote that his filing, “does not constitute a formal announcement,” but as a result, he is able to collect donations.
President Barack Obama didn't file his re-election paperwork until April 2011, 19 months before the 2012 presidential election; President George W. Bush didn't file until May 2003, 18 months before the 2004 election.
"Many times in the past, what sitting presidents have done in the first two years is really suspend any fundraising activities for their campaign committees," former FEC chair Michael Toner told ABC News in January, adding that the move could help keep the dollars flowing. "It gives them flexibility to raise money for a potential re-election effort."
In 2011, Trump tweeted that the country was “blowing up” in 2011 while Obama was “out campaigning,” and asking, “Does @BarackObama ever work? He is constantly campaigning and fundraising--on both the taxpayer's dime and time---not fair!”
The White House confirmed Wednesday that Trump will fly aboard Air Force One to Florida this weekend for a previously scheduled trip to his home at Mar-a-Lago. It is not yet clear how he will travel from there to Orlando for Saturday's event.