Trump campaign slams Minneapolis mayor, Target Center for ‘attempting to extort’ them with rally security fees

President Trump’s reelection campaign slammed the mayor of Minneapolis and the Target Center for “attempting to extort” the campaign with security fees for a rally scheduled this week.

Campaign manager Brad Parscale tweeted a press release Monday that accused Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) of charging the Target Center $530,000 in security fees with the intention of stopping the rally scheduled for Thursday.

“The radical leftist mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, is abusing the power of his office and attempting to extort President Trump’s re-election campaign by conjuring a phony and outlandish bill for security in an effort to block a scheduled Keep America Great rally,” the release states.

This is an outrageous abuse of power by a liberal mayor trying to deny the rights of his own city’s residents just because he hates the President!

Press Release: https://t.co/7eBwgqQuIp pic.twitter.com/4jGWATdDD7

— Brad Parscale (@parscale) October 8, 2019

The release says the Minneapolis city government “preemptively” informed the Target Center of the costs. The Target Center attempted to charge the campaign for the security fee, warning the president may not be able to use the arena without the payment, according to the release.

The campaign replied in a letter attached to the press release saying security falls exclusively under the U.S. Secret Service’s purview and if the Target Center withheld the arena, the campaign would view the action as a breach of contract. 

{mosads}“We are well aware of Mayor Frey’s vocal partisan opposition to President Trump and calls to disrupt the rally,” the letter from Trump law firm Jones Day addressed to the Target Center’s management firm said. “This last-minute squeeze seems to be nothing but a pretextual political effort with serious First Amendment ramifications.”

The campaign is requesting the management firm for the Target Center confirm the availability of the arena for the rally by 11 a.m. local time on Tuesday or it will prepare to take the issue to court. 

The Hill reached out to the Minneapolis mayor’s office and the Target Center for comment.