Trump cancels planned weekend trip to New Jersey

President Trump on Friday cancelled a planned weekend trip to New Jersey, shortly after state Gov. Phil Murphy imposed a new quarantine policy for individuals who have recently been in hotspot states.

The president had been scheduled to stay at his private golf course residence in Bedminster, New Jersey. It was not immediately clear why the trip had been nixed at the last minute.  

New Jersey's new rule stipulates that anyone who has recently traveled to a state with increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases must quarantine for 14 days upon returning to or visiting the state. New York and Connecticut's governors also imposed identical rules on Wednesday. 

Trump visited Arizona earlier in the week; that state is among those that are seeing a notable uptick in confirmed coronavirus infections. 

But Murphy said on Friday that the rule's exemption for "essential workers" would apply to Trump, since "by any definition the president of the United States is an essential worker.”