The White House had promised the much-hyped event — Trump’s first rally in three months — would be flooded with up to 100,000 people, but television images showed large sections of empty seating in the 19,000-capacity BOK Center.
A outdoor event for the overflow crowd was canceled because no one showed up, despite the campaign hyping huge interest ahead of time, with more than a million ticket requests. Senior Trump campaign aide Mercedes Schlapp told “Fox News Sunday” that attendees were unable to get into the BOK Center.
“There were factors involved, like they were concerned about the protesters who were coming in. There were protesters who blocked the (attendees),” Schlapp said. “And so we saw that have an impact in terms of people coming to the rally.”
Schlapp went on to say there were families that “didn’t want to bring — couldn’t bring — their children because of concerns of the protesters.” Schlapp was echoing an explanation first offered Saturday night by Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh, who said protesters were “even blocking access to the metal detectors, which prevented people from entering.”
But reporters on the ground said they saw no problems for people trying to get in. Reports have been circulating in the last week that teen users of social media platform TikTok were block-booking tickets in a bid to embarrass the campaign.
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