The acknowledgment from the president comes after The Washington Post reported Tuesday that convention planners were weighing the White House’s South Lawn as the site of Trump’s speech — a choice of venue that would represent an extraordinary breach of protocol and modern political norms.

Trump has already drawn significant criticism in recent weeks for staging campaign-style events on the White House premises, launching attacks at presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden from the seat of power of the federal government’s executive branch. Presidents have typically avoided mixing campaigning with the business of governing and the trappings of the official residence.

Even prior to his general election campaign against Biden, Trump provoked controversy over his selection of settings for high-profile gatherings. Last October, he announced plans to stage the upcoming G-7 summit of world leaders at one of his family’s resorts, only to reverse his decision days later.

Trump revealed last month that he was canceling GOP convention keynote events recently relocated to Jacksonville, Fla., amid a surge in Covid-19 cases there. And last week, Trump said he would accept the Republican nomination in the convention’s original host city of Charlotte, N.C. — which he spurned in June over its coronavirus-related public health restrictions.