The rally is scheduled to take place at Portsmouth International Airport at 8 pm ET, and “there will be wide access to hand sanitizer and all attendees will receive a face mask that they are recommended to wear,” the campaign said in a release. Press release.
The event will take place in an aircraft hangar at Portsmouth International Airport, a campaign source tells CNN. Part of the crowd will be inside the hangar and, depending on the size of the crowd, will overflow on the outdoor asphalt, the source said.
“We hope that so many freedom-loving patriots come to the rally and celebrate the United States, the largest country in the history of the world,” Trump 2020 national press secretary Hogan Gidley said in a statement.
Retired brig. General Don Bolduc, a Republican who ran for the United States Senate in the state, told CNN on Sunday night that he plans to attend the Trump event while distancing himself and “take adequate security precautions with everyone else. there”.
“We still have to make our economy move forward and the leaders come out and take risks, and if you are going to be a leader you have to take risks,” he said of the president. “And you have to get your message across, and you have to get the country together and move on.”
However, New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley said in a statement Sunday, “Trump is flying for a political rally that will only further highlight the chaos it has caused.”
“Trump’s response to the COVID-19 crisis has been chaotic and woefully inadequate, prompting thousands of Granite Staters to contract the virus and hundreds of lives lost, while causing significant damage to our state’s economy.” Buckley said.
In the end, fewer than 6,200 people attended the rally that was intended to signal Trump’s return to the election campaign. The low attendance was attributed to the intense reaction of the media and “radical protesters” to convene such a large crowd during the pandemic.
Trump has long viewed the protests as an outlet where he can connect with his followers in a way he can’t when he is in Washington, DC, and has blamed poor poll numbers for his absence from the campaign.
Still, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, who was an adviser to the White House medical team under President George W. Bush, said Thursday night that Trump “clearly flirts with disaster” by holding protests and attending events without wear a mask.
Reiner said that because of the president’s age and weight, “he probably has about a 20% chance of dying if he gets the virus.”
CLARIFICATION: The headline and story have been updated to reflect that the rally will take place in an aircraft hangar with an overflowing crowd outside.
CNN’s Jeremy Diamond contributed to this report.
.
