The White House excluded Maryland Gov. Wes Moore from speaking at Tradepoint Atlantic on Tuesday, where weapons maker Anduril Industries is set to announce plans for a 2 million-square-foot submarine manufacturing facility that’s expected to create thousands of jobs.

President Donald Trump will visit the site to tout American investment in defense manufacturing. Moore was on the schedule to speak alongside the president as of Monday but was removed when the White House objected to his inclusion that afternoon, according to two people who weren’t authorized to speak publicly.

Moore, in comments to reporters, confirmed the exclusion was at the White House’s direction.

“That’s correct,” Moore said after recording a debate with Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Cox at Maryland Public Television. “I will not be there later on today. This was going to be a deal that we helped break. This is going to be the largest private investment that we have seen in over a decade inside the state of Maryland.”

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An unnamed White House official wrote in an email to The Banner that Moore had been invited to attend the event as a guest but did not deny the move to exclude him from speaking.

Other Democrats — like Rep. Johnny Olszewski Jr., a former Baltimore County executive and longtime supporter of Tradepoint — were also expected to attend but pulled out in solidarity after Moore’s removal as a speaker

Olszewski, who will send staffers in his place, said in a statement he hoped the day’s focus would remain on the investment being made in Baltimore County.

“I proudly support all efforts to continue providing new opportunities for future generations,” he said.

Julian Jones, a Baltimore County Councilman who is widely presumed to become the next county executive after the November elections, said he too decided not to attend the event after learning Moore was disinvited as a speaker.

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Jones, in an interview, said he was four minutes from Tradepoint Atlantic when he got the news.

“It was a very, very difficult decision, because at the end of the day, this should be a wonderful day for Baltimore County, a great day to celebrate, and put politics aside, because we really all did work together to make this happen,” he said.

Moore and Trump have a long history of animosity.

Last year, Trump repeatedly attacked Moore on his TruthSocial platform, and even threatened to send the National Guard to Baltimore. Moore has responded with his own jabs at the president and regularly says he “won’t bow to anybody,” a reference to Democrats’ efforts to portray the president as a sort of tyrant king.

Trump has frequently spurned potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidates, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. Moore is considered a 2028 contender and did not commit to serving the entirety of a second term as governor during a debate Tuesday.

Rona Kobell contributed reporting.