White House says Trump still believes CPAC is relevant despite skipping conference

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that President Trump does not believe the Conservative Political Action Conference has become unnecessary.

Many wondered why Mr. Trump skipped the conservative conference — held this year in Grapevine, Texas — for the first time in a decade and wondered whether he canceled the event altogether.

“No, I don’t think he believes that at all. In fact, he loves CPAC and has a really good relationship with the great people who run it — Mercedes and Matt Schlapp,” Ms. Leavitt told White House reporters during the press briefing.

She said of Mr. Trump’s rare absence from CPAC: “It was just for scheduling reasons this year, since it was in Texas, it was best for the president’s schedule and what he has on his plate right now not to do it.” [attend].”

The president has been intensely busy with the war against Iran that began on February 28, while pushing the former regime in Tehran to surrender and abandon its nuclear ambitions.

Mr. Trump has been busy with the partial DHS shutdown that left TSA workers at airports across the country unable to pay for two pay periods, leading to huge security lines during the popular spring break season.

However, Mr Trump visited his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida last weekend and spent time at his nearby golf club.

When CPAC was held near Washington, Mr. Trump attended regularly. Mr. Trump’s first CPAC was in 2011, when he toyed with the idea of ​​running against President Obama in 2012 and whipped 2,000 conservative activists into a frenzy when he spoke about his “America First” agenda.

He decided against making remarks the following year, when he opted not to launch a presidential bid, but he returned to CPAC in 2013 and delivered remarks that year, and every year thereafter during his first campaign, his first term, his second campaign, his political exile after January 6, his third presidential campaign, and the first year of his second term.

• Jeff Mordock contributed to this story.