Wes Moore answers Donald Trump’s dinner snub: ‘Nah, I’m good.’ – Maryland Daily Record

In conversation with CBS News senior correspondent Norah O’Donnell, Gov. Wes Moore responded to President Donald Trump’s decision to exclude the governor from this year’s National Governor’s Association programming at the White House.

Trump singled out Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Moore, who also serves as NGA vice chair, for omission from the event.

What Moore had to say

O’Donnell: “The president is set to welcome the National Governors Association, that’s a bipartisan group, to the White House, and I know that you are vice-chair of that group and yet President Trump has said that you are not invited because in his words you are “not worthy.” Why do you think President Trump has singled you out?”

Moore: “Well I can’t speak to the president’s heart. I can speak to his actions. And I do want to be clear to the president respectfully, you do not determine my worthiness, God determines my worthiness, the people of Maryland determine my worthiness.

“They are who I answer to, not him. And I’ve been very clear with people of my state that I will work with anyone, but I will bow down to no one, and I think the president has a problem with that.

“And so I will work with cabinet secretaries and agency heads. I will work with anybody if it means that they’re going to advance the issues for the people of Maryland, and especially if it’s going to help to address some of the issues that I think are being inspired by the policies of a Trump-Vance Administration, but if the point of the meeting — that he singled me out and told me I’m disinvited from — but if the point of the meeting is to turn it into name calling or to follow what he did in this most recent tweet, which is full of lies, and it’s ignorant, and it’s unhinged. If the point of the meeting is that, then my answer to the president is very clear: nah I’m good.”

O’Donnell: “Meaning you won’t go?”

Moore: “Oh I’m good, I will not go. Absolutely not.”

The conversation — part of a Things That Matter CBS Town Hall — will air this Sunday, February 15 at 8 p.m.

To watch it now, visit https://www.cbsnews.com/video/gov-moore-dismisses-trumps-not-worthy-snub-i-will-bow-down-to-no-one/.

Trump stands firm in excluding Moore, Polis

President Donald Trump said he’s still not inviting two Democratic governors to a bipartisan meeting and dinner next week at the White House, despite the National Governors Association suggesting the president agreed to meet with all its members.

Trump reaffirmed in a Feb. 11 Truth Social Post that he won’t meet with Governors Wes Moore of Maryland and Jared Polis of Colorado. The NGA, in a statement just hours earlier, applauded Trump for agreeing to “welcome governors from all 55 states and territories to the White House,” regardless of their party affiliation.

Trump disputed that characterization and lashed out at Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican and the chairman of the NGA, who spoke to Trump by phone earlier in the day. Trump said Stitt “incorrectly stated my position” about the upcoming gathering with governors.”The invitations were sent to ALL Governors, other than two, who I feel are not worthy of being there,” Trump said.

Why Trump said he singled out Moore, Polis

The exclusions of Moore and Polis prompted 18 Democratic governors on Feb. 10 to announce plans to boycott the White House events. That includes multiple potential 2028 Democratic presidential contenders such as Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who chairs the Democratic Governors Association; Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the DGA’s vice chair; California Gov. Gavin Newsom; Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker; and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

In disinviting Polis, Trump pointed to Colorado’s continued imprisonment of Tina Peters, a former county clerk convicted of multiple crimes for letting someone access data from a secure voting system in an effort to prove unsubstantiated 2020 election conspiracies.

Trump referred to Moore as “the foul-mouthed Governor of Maryland,” accusing him of allowing Baltimore to “continue to be a Crime Disaster” and bringing up a past controversy over whether Moore had wrongfully claimed receiving a Bronze Star from his military service before formally awarded the Bronze Star in 2024 for his service in Afghanistan.

Baltimore saw 133 homicides in 2025, the fewest in nearly 50 years, and homicides and nonfatal shootings in the city are down nearly 60% over the past five years.

Reporting by Keith Demko, Salisbury Daily Times / USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.

Joey Garrison of USA Today contributed to this article.