Updated Jun 21, 2020 - Politics & Policy

Tulsa fire department says just under 6,200 people attended Trump rally

Jacob Knutson

Just under 6,200 people attended President Trump's rally in Tulsa Saturday, well below the BOK Center's total capacity of 19,200, a public information officer for the Tulsa Fire Department told Forbes Sunday.

Why it matters: Trump's campaign had planned to turn the rally into a massive pro-Trump festival to energize his re-election bid amid the coronavirus pandemic and nationwide protests against police brutality. Campaign manager Brad Parscale tweeted last week that 800,000 people had signed up to attend the rally.

What they're saying: The campaign is still celebrating the rally, saying in a press release that it attracted "over 4 million unique viewers across all of the campaign’s digital media channels" and 2.5 million livestreams before the start of the rally.

"The news media, which encouraged protestors and bombarded Americans for more than a week with dire warnings against attending a Trump rally, are still unable to prevent President Trump from reaching the people," campaign spokesperson Tim Murtaugh said.
"These numbers represent unmatched enthusiasm behind the President’s re-election and a massive audience that Joe Biden can only dream of.”

A Trump campaign official disputed the Tulsa Fire Department's figure on Sunday, claiming the campaign counted "12,000" people.

The official did not clarify if that was the exact number of attendees or an estimate.

Go deeper: Trump cranks up culture war rhetoric at first rally since pandemic

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include that the Trump campaign disputes TFD's estimate.

Add Axios on Google

Tulsa fire department says just under 6,200 people attended Trump rally

What to read next