cleveland says he understands the city wanting to put its best foot forward for president-elect trump s visit. but he said he didn t realize the city had cut the huge tree from a city park for decoration. i didn t know the city had trees they were cutting for christmas trees. reporter: another commission member was caught by surprise. i was not aware of it and i m like you ve got to be kidding me. the mobile tree commission. by sunday night is, the city began to understand the mayor s chief of staff issuing a statement saying in an effort to make sure every detail was covered in the expectation of the president-elect s team were exceeded i became overzealous. i accept full responsibility for having this done. yesterday the mayor addressed the issue saying at my direction, the tree will be repurposed and our staff has a plan in place to replant three cedar trees. we will ensure this mistake does not happen again.
reporter: another commission member was caught by surprise. i was not aware of it and i m like you ve got to be kidding me. the mobile tree commission. by sunday night is, the city began to understand the mayor s chief of staff issuing a statement saying in an effort to make sure every detail was covered in the expectation of the president-elect s team were exceeded i became overzealous. i accept full responsibility for having this done. yesterday the mayor addressed the issue saying at my direction, the tree will be repurposed and our staff has a plan in place to replant three cedar trees. we will ensure this mistake does not happen again. rest assured, residents, it appears this s the first alpine sacrifice in the name of oupresident-elect.