According to Reuters, President Trump, who had been delayed due to weather conditions, arrived at National Mall in Washington at 11 p.m. local time on Saturday (the 4th) to deliver a ‘campaign-style’ public speech to commemorate the 250th anniversary of American independence.
CNN
Trump posted a message on his social platform “Truth Social” earlier that day, saying, “Storms always bring good fortune to various occasions and add some excitement to events. I will wait for the storm to pass, whether it takes two o’clock in the morning or an hour later—it seems like it will stop soon, as it always does. In any case, I will be there, and the outcome is usually positive. Today is Saturday night, let’s have a wild party, even if we have to stay up late. They said the speech was scheduled for 11 o’clock, who cares?” He also used the UFC event two weeks ago as an example, saying that there were predictions of heavy rain for the whole week, but not a single drop of rain fell before the event, and it turned out to be a classic match, to encourage supporters not to fear the weather.
Under the influence of stormy weather, evacuation procedures were initiated for the event, and a large number of spectators were asked to evacuate to nearby museums and government buildings for safety. Subsequently, authorities allowed people to return to the open areas near the Washington Monument to continue participating in the event. Meanwhile, the region experienced record-breaking heatwaves, with temperatures reaching up to 39 degrees Celsius. With strict security measures in place, people had to wait for hours to get into the area.
According to AFP, hours before the speech began, tens of thousands of people were asked to leave National Square in order to prepare for the approaching stormy weather. Although a large number of people subsequently evacuated towards the exits, some refused to leave or tried to return to the venue, shouting “Go!” and “Trump! Trump!”. The scene was once extremely crowded and chaotic.
