The White House has rejected Maryland Governor Wes Moore's claim that the Trump administration blocked him from speaking at a major U.S. Navy investment announcement. Moore told reporters he would not speak at the event in Baltimore, despite working on the multi-billion-dollar deal with Anduril Industries, which would fund the development of a new shipyard to build critical components of Virginia-class submarines.
President Donald Trump is set to speak in Baltimore Tuesday afternoon, where he is expected to lay out more details on the deal. Moore, who is set to debate his gubernatorial rival Dan Cox Tuesday afternoon, said his office had been working with the company "for over a year," and he was excited about what the deal would mean. "But if the President of the United States wants to bring the circus into town and tell me that I am not allowed to speak, when we were in fact the ones to bring the deal, then I will let the circus be conducted while I go back to the work of the people," Moore told reporters.
A White House official told Newsweek the president was "willing to work with anyone" to revitalize the U.S. manufacturing sector, which was why Moore had been invited to the event "as a guest," the official said, adding that the deal was a federal initiative that was thanks to Trump, not the governor. The dispute over who is responsible for the deal speaks to a broader argument over who gets credit for investment in Maryland—a largely Democratic state in which Trump has struggled to garner widespread approval. Anduril plans to invest $3.7 billion in the manufacturing facility at Tradepoint Atlantic in Edgemere, southeast of central Baltimore.
The agreement is expected to create over 3,100 jobs, bringing shipbuilding back to an area that built thousands of vessels during World War II but saw a decline in the latter part of the 20th century. Newsweek reached out to Moore's office and Anduril for further comment Tuesday afternoon via email. This is a breaking news story.
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