White House chief of staff on canceled convention and coronavirus stimulus bill

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Mark Meadows on canceling Jacksonville part of GOP convention, COVID relief negotiations

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows joins Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier with insight on 'Special Report.'

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows joined "Special Report with Bret Baier" Thursday to discuss when the next coronavirus bill could be expected and the president's announcement that the Republican National Convention events in Jacksonville, Fla., are canceled.

"I think for all of us, we're disappointed that we can't have the convention. But it's a responsible and really dedicated decision by the president, the United States, to focus not only on the safety of those that might be attending, but really on the safety of all Americans to they keep focused on making sure that we combat this China virus and make sure that we have vaccines," Meadows told Bret Baier. "And so he made it one of the most difficult decisions that any president or politician might have to make, which is, is saying that what we're going to do is put aside those, those partisan politics and make sure that we actually focus on what is is key."

JACKSONVILLE SHERIFF WARNS REPUBLICAN CONVENTION AMID CORONAVIRUS COULD PUT COMMUNITY AT RISK

President Trump announced the cancellation of next month's events, citing the rising numbers of COVID-19 in the state.

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Meadows went on to say that the president decided to drop a payroll tax cut in the next coronavirus bill because Democrats declined to give Trump his request, calling it a "non-starter." He also said that Republicans were focused on "key components."

"But I think the real frustration is really about trying to make sure that we focus on a couple of key components. We know that we have unemployment insurance and those who are still unemployed and receiving those benefits with that about to expire next week," Meadows said. "We also know that we have businesses that continue to remain in [...] unbelievably difficult circumstances and so what we're trying to do is focus on those priorities."

The chief of staff criticized the Democrats $3 trillion proposal, saying it wasn't "serious."

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"We found that they were not really serious about their effort that they put forth," Meadows said. "So we're trying to make sure that we hit the immediate needs first and then continue to negotiate perhaps throughout most of August until we get something finished."

Fox News' Andrew O'Reilly and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.