What are you hearing . Reporter i had the chance since we were last on to talk to some of the folks that are at this event tonight to get their sense of what theyre anticipating, what theyre looking forward to and why they came out. We also got to talk to them about their concerns about the coronavirus, the potential spread here at this arena thats expected to be packed later tonight. The sense is that folks just do not believe that there is a huge threat here, that the coronavirus is certainly out there, it is something that people acquire, but its not something that has people all that nervous. In fact i talked to one gentleman who drove six hours to get here from kansas to be a part of this rally. And this is what he told me about his worry or lack thereof about the coronavirus at this rally tonight. Take a listen. Im not as concerned about the spread. I think in the general population im seeing like a 0. 4 or 0. 2 mortality rate. Reporter even if you got it, youre not worried about it. No. And even if i did get sick from it, i mean theres so many positive studies with the hydro chloroquine the fda said you cant prescribe it for that. No, the fda is saying that it is able to be prescribed. They only shut it down for a certain thing. And actually in trumps roundtable the other day, they explained it very well. Reporter so you get a sense there of kind of the perspective of a lot of the folks that are in attendance here. And their view of the coronavirus and the way its impacted american life. This despite the fact cases are on the rise here in oklahoma. As you mentioned, you are able to get a mask as you walk in. They hand a mask to anyone will to take one but they are not required. We do see some people Wearing Masks in the crowd. We did catch the campaign manager, brad parscale, he made a walk through the venue not too long ago. He is wearing a mask but most Trump Campaign staffers are not. Eric trump made a run through media row and he was not wearing a mask. But there are warnings across the building about the threat of coronavirus. In fact when you walk into the venue, there is a sign that warns every Single Person about the risk they are taking in being inside this venue with the threat of coronavirus. Still, regardless of all those warnings, the warning not only from National Public Health Officials but Public Health officials that asked for this rally to be postponed, this rally is happening here tonight. We should point out, were about three hours away from the president s appearance. Theres still a lot of Seats Available here in this arena. Theres still a long way to go before he arrives. The overflow area where the president is scheduled to speak, that is a very small crowd right now and there isnt a lot of people crushing to get into the venue at this point. Still a long way to go, but we do expect the president here in just a couple of hours. Two hours until we expect his remarks. Trump obviously has been very eager to resume these rallies. He believes they were a key to his 2016 victory. What is the campaign saying . How are they addressing even just the optics of holding this indoor political rally . They could have held it outdoors which would have been less risky perhaps. In a location where covid cases are on the rise right now . Reporter well, the campaigns argument, ana, is that they are taking steps to protect folks. As we talked about, everyone is given Hand Sanitizer as they come in. There are temperature checks for every person that walks in as well. But the big argument the Trump Campaign is making is that this is a state that is in the process of reopening and that they feel comfortable moving forward with an event like this. Essentially the threat isnt as great as maybe even some within the Public Health community make it. Over and over again, ana, they say this is safe. Were not going to know that for sure for probably a couple of weeks. Okay, ryan, thank you. Health experts are concerned that tonights rally has the potential to become a super spreader event. Attendees had to sign a waiver promising they wont sue if they get sick. Cnns gary tuchman is outside with supporters. Gary, youve been talking to Trump Supporters about whether theyre concerned about their health. Tell us more. Reporter theres not a lot of serious concern about health, ill start with that, ana. First of all, i do want to mention to you, theres an outdoor component to this rally. This is where it is. Before the rally starts indoors, President Trump is expected to make about 20 minutes of remarks outdoors at the socalled overflow area. You can see surrounding the podium, it looks like a cube. He will look like a ship in the bottle. Police tell me for conventional security reasons and covid security reasons. This area is not crowded. As ryan told you, it doesnt start for three hours. But he was talking about not every seat being taken inside. There was a crush of people here about an hour ago going through. For the first time we do see social distancing because its not particularly crowded going in right now. What you dont see are a lot of masks. When people walked in, they were offered masks. They werent mandated to take the masks, and therefore people dont seem to be wearing the masks. Maybe 10 of the people we see are wearing the masks. Before this, the last three years when people were coming in we saw no social distancing whatsoever. Now youre seeing it because there are not so many people. Starting off with what i said in the beginning, people arent overwhelmingly concerned. They feel this is an area of personal responsibility. Im not going to get it and im not going to give it to someone else. How do you know that . Its the same thing if you get a damn cold. It just doesnt concern me. I went to a dinner house over in nebraska and nobody had masks on. The lady said do you want more coffee . I felt normal. Normal. So nothing about this concerns you . None, zero. Reporter this is the home of the tulsa oilers Minor League Hockey league. They suspended the league with 19,100 people in that building and tonight thats how many people will be in that building. That very thin crowd in the overflow area was interesting to see. The president claimed, you know, over a Million People have been expressing interest in being part of this event. Im curious as to why those people are choosing to stay in the overflow versus going in, if it isnt filled inside . Reporter first of all, its important to emphasize journalistically no one has ever offered any proof a Million People said they would come to the event. Just because every seat is not filled doesnt mean it wont be. It is very hot and humid outside. We were just helping a nice woman who felt like she was going to fainti. Its a dangerous time to be out here. Theres some shade now for the first time all day. The fact is we just dont know right now how full it will be. But right now factually theres not as many people going in as we saw an hour ago. Well check back, thank you very much, gary tuchman. We also savidge. Last time we checked in with you protesters were going against the people going into the rally. Reporter here youve got the sheriff and Police Department all lined up and ready to protect what is the primary way for much of the public to get into this facility. And the problem has been that protesters have taken over the main part of this street. Well even show them to you. Theyre off in this direction here. And this would be the main way that anybody wants to go to the rally would have to pass through. So essentially all those that are trying to go see the president have to run this gauntlet of protesters here. There are security teams that are trying to redirect people down other streets to try to gain entrance to the arena, but its a combination of concern over, of course, protests. People may be fearful of coronavirus now they have heard so much of it spiking and it could be also too all the talk about how large the crowd was going to be may have in fact caused some people to secondguess whether they really wanted to go through all of it. Right now the protests continue to play out. Its all peaceful. Weve only heard of one arrest. It clearly could be having an effect as far as causing people to have second thoughts on attending, ana. Thank you for being our eyes and ears on the ground. Our thanks to gary tuchman as well. One of americas most powerful prosecutors has now been fired and confirms he is leaving his Office Effective immediately after an extraordinary standoff with the attorney general. Joining us now is evan perez. Evan, what just happened . Geoff berman has now accepted that he is fired and he says he is leaving Effective Immediately and he essentially is pointing out that the reason why, the reason for the standoff, ana, is because of the way the attorney general had tried to carry this out. He had tried to appoint the new jersey u. S. Attorney to take over the job, passing over the deputy in his office who is under normal process the person who takes over, essentially going outside of that chain of command. And so what berman seems to be suggesting in his statement that he is accepting that the attorney general has now decided to go through the normal process, that he is accepting that he is fired. The attorney general just in the last two hours had sent a letter to berman saying that because he had refused to step down, he was now issuing an order from the president saying that he is fired essentially. So now berman is accepting that fate, ana. Obviously you know that part of the issue here is this issue that this is an office thats doing a lot of sensitive investigations and berman makes reference to that in his refusal to resign last night. He makes reference to the fact that there is sensitive investigations and he wanted to make sure that he was protecting those. It appears that the fact that his deputy, audrey strauss, is taking over, he believes that those investigations are now protected. Just looking at this statement from berman, and he writes i know that under her leadership, the person whos replacing him, this office is unparalleled attorneys for the u. S. , investigators, paralegals and staff will continue to safeguard the enduring tradition of integrity and independence. Evan perez, thank you for being there with all these latest developments. We are now less than two hours away from the start of President Trumps Campaign Rally and there are reports that the president is upset that his triumphant return is being overshadowed by the fact that six of his Campaign Staffers in tulsa have tested positive for the coronavirus. Stay with us. At mercedesbenz, nothing less than worldclass service will do. Thats why were expanding your range of choices. Many dealers now offer optional pickup delivery and athome maintenance, as well as Online Shopping with Home Delivery and special finance arrangements. So, whether you visit your local dealer or prefer the comfort of home you can count on the very highest level of service. Get 0 apr financing up to 36 months on most models, and 90day firstpayment deferral on any model. Your bank can be virtually any place you are. You can deposit checks from here. And you can see your transactions and check your balance from here. And pay bills from here. Because your bank isnt just one place. Its virtually any place you are. Just download and use the chase mobile app. Visit chase. Com mobile. [ ] when you have diabetes, managing your blood sugar is crucial. Try boost glucose control. The patented blend is clinically shown to help manage blood sugar levels. It provides 60 more protein than the leading diabetes nutrition shake. Try boost glucose control. We are just a short time away from President Trumps first Campaign Rally since the coronavirus pandemic hit. As 19,000 supporters continue to file in, cnn has learned six Campaign Staffers who have been working on the event have tested positive for the virus. The rally comes as oklahoma averaged 265 new cases per day this past week. 121 increase over the previous week. But masks are only optional, a decision that flies in the face of the guidelines put out by trumps own Health Officials. David gergen is a cnn senior political analyst and former president ial advisor to nixon, reagan and clinton. April, sources are telling cnn the president has spent much of today upset because he sees the coverage of u. S. Attorney geoffrey bermans firing as well as the six Campaign Staffers testing positive for covid19 overshadowing his return to the campaign trail. Your reaction . This president likes the winning picture, and today is not a winning picture. Everything you listed, plus the fact that six of his staffers who advanced this program today are sick. You know, one might say that this is not the commander in chief, but the spreader in chief. Spreader of covid19, something hes trying to downplay and hes once again trying to show strength and trying to show that he is in this to win it, meaning the reelection. He cannot get away from negative press. And at the end of the day when it comes to tulsa and this event, death does not know politics, and this president is in the midst of trying to figure out what to say, but also more negative press is coming. How do you turn this and spin this . This is not a winning picture for this president today. David, your thoughts . Well, you reap what you sow. No better example here, the president has been on a rampage to undermine the very program of trying to protect people from the coronavirus. Yeah, hes refusing to wear a mask. His own team coming in here, its optional whether they wear a mask. Now six of his advance team have come down testing positive. People were supposed to be checked on a regular basis at the white house. Its not a big team, ana, so six people is a lot. And i do think its going to make this president s task harder. Essentially hes been in freefall and he needs to stop that and see if he can stabilize. What he needs is bringing the microphone back to his agenda. This story about the six and there are going to be additional stories. I hope not but there may be violence before this is over. It could be a wild night. It certainly started in a wild way. April, the fact that the president is able to convince tens of thousands of voters to come out and support him despite the nearly 120,000 americans who have already died from coronavirus and continued warnings from Health Experts including members of his own administration, what does this say about the way President Trump has been able to simply discredit science and our institutions . You know, i think its deeper than that. I believe that many of these people are going there risking everything because they are not as informed as they should be. Recently the gallup and the Knight Foundation came together and did a poll about misinformation as relates to covid. The number one piece of misinformation was social media. Number two, the president of the United States followed by number three, the media. So the question is are these people really as informed about it listening to the president of the United States as they risk it all. And the science is there. Its still evolving. The cdc as well as the government in oklahoma is warning against even going, and many people are there without a mask. So the question is do they really understand the consequences . Do they really understand this as some still think, oh, its just the flu, oh, i wont get it. Yes, they can. As i said, death does not know politics. David, the governor of oklahoma said part of the reason the president is holding a rally there is that his state is the most open state in america in terms of the coronavirus, yet we know coronavirus cases are on the rise. This is also a deeply red state, a stronghold for republicans. Why hold a rally there right now . I think, ana, hes coming back out of his cave in the white house slowly. They want to test the waters with a state and an audience thats really going to be boisterous in his support of him. Hell have a lot of pictures the next few days of people cheering and yelling and one thing and another. He does have a base that he can rally. Choosing oklahoma i think was quite intentional. Clearly they didnt do their homework about race. Clearly when you have a cabinet with only one member thats black and clearly when you have a staff and advance team that i put is almost all white, i can almost guarantee that, youre not going to get the big picture. I think this racial issue is going to hurt him just like the health issue will hurt him tonight as people stand back in their living rooms and say, you know, are they really doing the job they should be doing to protect me and my family. April, you said today is not a winning day for this president , but lets just talk about the week that was. Coronavirus on the rise, ongoing protests, two Supreme Court rulings against the trump administration, new bombshell revelations from the john bolton book which will go forward with publication and a slew of polls showing biden leading trump by double digits right now. Yes. And yet youve seen the crowds of enthusiastic Trump Supporters out there, some who have been waiting almost a week to hear him speak tonight. Is tonight about boosting his base or his ego after a tumultuous week . I love hearing david laugh. Yeah, i think its both, but i think mostly his ego. Its going to get a big boost. People are risking their lives, literally, going to tulsa, oklahoma, and seeing spikes in covid. His own advance team, six members have now tested positive for covid. This is a big ego boost as people are risking it all to get there. It also strengthens his base because he is in a place that saw 99 years ago a race riot and destroyed the black economy. In this speech he will deal with race, but this is a message in this place, and in a space that was supposed to happen yesterday on juneteenth, its going to be about race to galvanize that base. He began his politics, he began his politics on the fact that he thought that barack obama was born not in the United States. Well, this is going back to the base of his politics, race. Matters of race. And creating a bigger divide. Ana, the thing that strikes me so much is that just the beginning of the republic, in times of crisis, americans look to the president as commander in chief and as a father figure. George washington was father of our country. Abraham lincoln, you know, was honest abe. He looked after people and you trust him in the white house, he was our father figure now. Now weve got a president who has completely thrown that out the window. Has no interest in being a father figure. The first time in my lifetime weve had a president invite american citizens into a place thats fundamentally not safe. Hes inviting them to come hear him speak. Hes inviting them into a place where they put their lives in danger. We have never had that before to my knowledge. Never. April, lets talk about this issue of Race Relations playing in the election and just this moment were in as a country. We know senator Amy Klobuchar from minnesota withdrew her consideration to be bidens vp pick and said he should choose a woman of color. Is biden making a mistake if he doesnt put a woman of color on the ticket . Well, let me say this. What joe biden is going to have to do, whether its a black woman or a white woman or any woman of any color, hes going to have to find someone who is sensitive to this moment in history, who is transformational when it comes to issues of race. Even if its not a black person. It could be a black person but it has to be a black person who feels that. If its a white person, it has to be a white person who feels that. If its an asian person, it has to be an asian person that feels that. We cannot discount this moment. This moment is not a moment, its a movement. And lets see, because hes going to make the announcement, we understand, from what im hearing from my sources and the story that i broke, its the end of july, early august. So right now time is on their side. Theyre watching the protests. Theyre watching what the president is doing. Theyre also watching those who are that small list of people who are being vetted. And Amy Klobuchar sent a salvo basically to save herself for history sake because she left because of exactly her connection to george floyd. But she came back saying it should be a black woman, so she will go down in history looking better than she would have if she had not said that. But the taken has taken heed to that. This is a moment and a movement that biden has got to Pay Attention to when he makes that pick for Vice President. April ryan and david gergen, thank you so much for the conversation. I really appreciate having you here. Thank you, ana. Thanks. Here is a live look at tulsa. The president holding a rally there in less than two hours, even though Public Health experts have warned against it and six of his own Campaign Staffers have now contracted the virus as they were part of the team setting up for this rally. Well be right back. To brain better . Unlike ordinary memory supplements, neuriva has clinically proven ingredients that fuel five indicators of brain performanc memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. Try our new gummies for 30 days and see the difference. For spending a perfectly reasonable amount of time on the couch with tacos from grubhub . Grubhubs gonna reward you for that with a 5 off perk. doorbell rings [crowd] grubhub fireworks exploding swithout even on yoleaving your house. Just keep your phone and switch to xfinity mobile. You can get it by ordering a free sim card online. Once you activate, youll only have to pay for the data you need starting at just 15 a month. There are no term contracts, no activation fees, and no credit check on the first two lines. Get a 50 prepaid card when you switch. 5g is now included with all new data options. Switch and save hundreds. Xfinity mobile. Six of President Trumps Campaign Staffers working on tonights rally in tulsa, oklahoma, have tested positive for the coronavirus. This as the president is set to speak at this rally in just a couple of hours. A live look inside the arena. Health experts have warned the president against holding this rally, fearing it could be a super spreader event. Joining us now, dr. F. Perry wilson, associate professor of medicine at yale university. Dr. Wilson, when you hear that six Campaign Staffers in tulsa have tested positive, what does that tell you about the Current Health risk at this rally . Hi, ana, thanks. Its obviously quite concerning. First id like to say its great that these people were being tested. Its important. This reminds us how important testing is in our efforts to fight the coronavirus. It also reminds us that people who are asymptomatic, as i assume these staffers were, can still transmit the virus and that is something thats really concerning when you have so many people together in a rally like this. And finally what it suggests is that the prevalence of this disease, how common this disease is in the population, is not trivial. If you extrapolate the number of staffers to the people in that stadium, its likely that there are anywhere between 100 and 1,000 of those people in the stadium who may be carrying coronavirus and actively shedding virus right now. As we look at these pictures and the crowds, just how close they really are to the stage and when you think of as many as 19,000 people possibly cheering and yelling, is the president at risk of contracting this virus or is his distance from the crowd enough . The sixfoot distance that is recommended for social distancing is based on decent data and other indoor places where the virus has been transmitted, restaurants and whatnot do so that your highest risk when youre right close to someone who is actively shedding the virus. And so my perception is that the president will have a significant distance between him and the nearest crowd member. So the risk to him is probably relatively low. But the risk to those people in the crowd, his supporters, is certainly substantial. Now, among the Trump Campaign safety precautions for the tulsa rally, Hand Sanitizer, temperature checks, masks provided to attendingiees but n required. As we scan the crowd, its hard to see anybody wearing a mask. What is your assessment, doctor, is the Trump Campaign being responsible . Well, they did the bare minimum here. They handed out masks. But, you know, the fact that no one is wearing them is something that has really baffled me. How this seems to have become a political issue. The president himself apparently said that he thinks that mask wearing is a sign of disapproval of him personally. To a physician like me who is caring for patients with covid19, this is akin to saying that real republicans dont wash their hands. This is simply a Public Health measure. And i wish the president would get onboard with this simple intervention that has the potential to shut this pandemic down, if he could just encourage people to come together, wear masks, and stop the spread. Let me ask you, though, further about the mask issue, because inform us, what is the data showing as far as the effectiveness of wearing a mask or a Face Covering when it comes to covid19 . Well, weve learned a lot in the six months or so since coronavirus hit our shores. Ive been writing about Coronavirus Research for that entire period of time. And mask wearing has really emerged as the center point of the Public Health response. It is very effective. Theres one study that suggested if 50 of the population wore masks while they were out in public, that the epidemic curve would trend down to zero. That the average infected person would infect less than one additional person which is this key metric showing that the epidemic will go away. This is a lowcost intervention. It really does boggle by mind why this wouldnt be widely embraced. Weve been talking about how cases are going up in several states around the country. President trump this week telling the wall street journal i personally think testing is overrated, even though i created the greatest testing machine in history. In many ways, it makes us look bad. Whats your reaction to that . Well, you know, i think the president is comparing trying to compare the u. S. To other countries and he recognizes that we have more cases than any other country and he wants to say thats just because we do more testing. Now, that is not entirely true. One thing we can look at outside of testing is the hospitalization rate. So just because you test more people, you pick up more cases, that shouldnt increase the hospitalization rate and the death rate, yet were already seeing hospitalization rates go up in some of those states where the case rates are going up. So we know that this is more than just were testing, were catching these people with minimal symptoms. This disease is spreading. Part of the one of the major reasons it is spreading is because Many Americans dont appreciate the risk that they have to themselves and to their loved ones when theyre going out in public if theyre not social distancing and not Wearing Masks. When you talk about the hospitalization rate, it makes me think of what i learned today in a news alert from Washington State where i have family, where i went to school in yakima county, they are out of hospital beds right now. They are in dire circumstances, so it is starting to catch up upon certain areas, unfortunately. I just wonder after tonights rally, when will we know if this does turn into a super spreader event . When will that be reflected in the data . It can honestly be very hard to tell. And so while i personally believe there will be significant transmission of coronavirus at this event, i do want to make clear that these are people coming from many states it sounds like, not just oklahoma. Theyre going to sort of spread out and it can be difficult to tell if theres any one event that causes a spike, although obviously we can look at that data and ask people whether they were at the rally or not. But we are not doing robust Contact Tracing in this country. Were not figuring out where every infected person has been. So we may not know for sure exactly what happened at this rally, but the biology is very clear. Putting this many people together, many of whom who arent Wearing Masks. Many of whom are shouting and expelling particles and many who may be asymptomatically infected, will spread the coronavirus. Doctor, thank you. We are standing by in tulsa, less than two hours away from the start of President Trumps rally. Will the Public Health risk be worth the possible political payoff . Sources telling cnn the president is already upset at that that this triumphant return to the trail is being overshadowed. Youre live in the cnn newsroom. At tmobile, you dont have to choose between a Great Network and the best prices. We give you both. Switch your family from at t or verizon to tmobile and you will save up to 50 off your Current Service and smart phones. 50 with three or more lines of essentials with unlimited talk, text and data. All on a network built with our best signals for coverage. And keep your current phones. Well pay them off up to 450 bucks each. Now get an Amazing Network for an amazing price. Only at tmobile. 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We are awaiting trumps arrival at his rally in tulsa, but outside as you can see, a large overflow crowd they expected just hasnt materialized, and thats led to a change of plans for the president. Cnns abby phillip in tulsa. Abby, whats happening . Reporter this just in to our ryan nobles. The campaign has said that President Trump and Vice President pence both will not speak outdoors as they had originally planned. Both had planned to give remarks. The Vice President s were supposed to be about 20 minutes, 30 minutes ago. The Vice President instead went straight into the indoor part of the arena. The president will not come outside as he originally planned, and thats because as you can see, there is almost no one here. The outdoor part of this event has been completely emptied out. There were perhaps a few dozen people earlier in the afternoon when they had some surrogates speaking on the stage. Those folks are all gone now. And it seems that the estimates that the campaign had originally put forward, they thought they could see up to 40,000 people in this outdoor portion of the rally. It hasnt even nearly come to pass. And so the question now is whats going to happen inside. Inside that rally area is still filling up. We can still see people streaming past us walking toward the bok center, presumptively those people will try to get inside the rally where there is still room for them to go. But it seems that the expectations for extraordinarily high turnout that the campaign had been touting for days now are really far below expectations. They had said about a Million People had rsvped, of course those are not actual tickets and they are also not people in seats. It seems that more people than they anticipated perhaps are in fact concerned about being in such a large crowded environment during the midst of this pandemic, ana. And for good reason. As weve been reporting, even six members of Trumps Campaign staff working on his rally have tested positive for coronavirus. What more have you learned on that front, abby . Reporter yeah, this is something we just learned today. Its not clear when exactly those staffers tested positive. But these are people who would have been here in tulsa in the days leading up to this event, trying to set up and arrange the logistics around an event like this. Six of them have now tested positive for the coronavirus. The Campaign Says they will not be attending the event and anybody who has had contact with them will not be attending the event but it has really put a cloud over this entire event. Lots of questions now about how effectively they have been able to Contact Trace these individuals to make sure they know who they have been in contact with. Beyond that, what do we not know about who in this crowd thats attending this event, the thousands and thousands of people who are here who might also be positive with the coronavirus and may not even know it. We as we were coming in experienced the same kind of screening that regular attendees would have experienced. They took our temperatures as we walked in. There were people offering masks, offering Hand Sanitizer. But i will note, ana, the offer of a mask was also optional, in addition to the fact that it is optional to wear a mask indoors in that arena. Abby phillip. We just got some news into cnn that the Trump Campaign just sent out a text saying, quote, let me say this to you. The Great American comeback celebration is almost here. Doors are open at the bok center. President trump cant wait theres still space so they are encouraging people to come on down. Thank you very much, abby phillip. We know youre going to continue to be our eyes and ears and bring us the very latest. As we continue to follow this breaking news, the president has canceled his address to the overflow crowd because of a lack of an overflow crowd. But his indoor rally kicks off soon and that crowd gathered indoors is what is worrying Health Experts. Stay right there, youre live in the cnn newsroom. Heres what we want everyone to do. Count all the hugs you havent given. All the hands you havent held. All the dinners you didnt share with friends. The trips you havent taken. Keep track of them. Each one means one less person vulnerable, one less person exposed, and one step closer to a healthier community. So for now, keep your distance. But dont lose count. Well have some catching up to do. Welcome back. We are just a little over an hour away now from the president s address in tulsa, oklahoma, his reelection Campaign Rally. And these are the images outside the event. They expected a huge crowd, and as you can see nobody is outside. The president scrapping plans to make remarks outside before heading inside. And his Campaign Just putting out a text to their supporters that theres still room for the people to come and participate at this rally tonight. I want to bring in cnns chief media correspondent brian stelter. Brian, the image is striking because we know from day one of this presidency the president has been all about crowd size. Right. I always think about the inauguration crowd size controversy which started because the president was watching cnn the next morning. And remember the womens march took over washington the next day. It underestimated support and exceeded expectations. What the president does is overestimates supports and then undersells he does not reach those expectations. And tulsa might be another one of those cases. Look, its only, you know, nearly 6 00 p. M. There. Lets see what happens. But this might be another case of the president overpromising and underdelivering. And that has been a narrative theme of the trump presidency. We know for the president this entire presidency is about crowds, whether hes thinking about the crowds at his rallies or the ratings for his television shows. And we also know those crowds have dissipated over time. If you talk to supporter who is cover trump rallies prepandemic, theyll tell you its odd how people start to leave during the rally. I saw that first hand in 2018. We may be seeing another case that theres not so much build up and expectation and it doesnt deliver to that degree. The Democratic Committee spokesperson is already mocking trump for not being able to deliver an overflow crowd to tulsa. It occurs to me what is good for Public Health in this case is bad for President Trump. It should never be that way, right . It should never be that way that what is good for Public Health is bad for the president. But in this case, what is good for the health of the community might be embarrassing to the president tonight. We dont know why people havent shown up. Oklahoma is reliably red. Every county voted for President Trump in 2016. Yet his campaign set very, very high expectations. They were the ones building it up to say they had around a Million People who had rsvpd for this event. Yeah, this is kind of television 101 or politics 101. You want to set the barlow so you can easily clear it. You dont want to set the bar too high so that you fail. And already the Trump Campaign has put out a statement blaming pretss and the media saying the media has frightened people away by talking about the pandemic. And they say protesters have caused folks to have a hard time to get to the arena. Theres not a lot of visible evidence of that. The protesters are far away from the arena sighte. But thats the narrative, it was the medias fault, the protesters fault. We are in the midst of a dangerous pandemic. Was there concern about people protesting and getting sick . Yes. Should there been concern about people attending tonight and getting sick . Perhaps that was heeded more than the president wanted to see. Thank you, brian. Dont forget brians show tomorrow morning, reliable sources. This trump rally is in about an hour. Im going to turn it over to wolf blitzer. Thank you for being with me. Well be right back. Stay with cnn. Indicators of brain performanc memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. Try our new gummies for 30 days and see the difference. This virus is testing all of us. And its testing the people on the front lines of this fight most of all. So abbott is getting new tests into their hands, delivering the critical results they need. And until this fight is over, we. Will. Never. Quit. Because they never quit. Announcer this is cnn breaking news. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer in washington. This is a special edition of the situation room. Today was supposed to be an important day in trumps Reelection Campaign and it comes at a historic moment for the United States. But the entire day does not appear to be turning out as the president wanted or as he expected. The president is in tulsa, oklahoma, for what he hoped would be a huge indoor rally with thousands of his supporters but you can see plenty of empty seats. The size of the rally seems to be a lot smaller than the campaign expect. The rly
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