The Latest: Trump MN rally capped at 250 at state insistence

[groundloop]

Source: ABC News

President Donald Trump’s campaign says it will cap his planned rally Friday in Rochester, Minnesota to 250 people at the insistence of state and local officials.

The announcement comes as Trump’s campaign sought to shift the venue to a nearby business but ultimately reversed course and moved ahead with the rally at the airport. Trump has packed thousands of supporters, most not wearing masks, into similar rallies across the country, despite the raging coronavirus pandemic.

The campaign said: “Thanks to the free speech-stifling dictates of Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison, only the first 250 people will be admitted.”

(snip)

Democrat Joe Biden, meanwhile, will be holding a socially-distanced drive-in event in St. Paul on Friday, his campaign said,

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/latest-trump-mn-rally-capped-250-state-insistence-73921725?cid=clicksource_4380645_4_heads_hero_live_headlines_hed

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There are at least 28 known Covid cases linked to other recent tRump rallies in Minnesota.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

1. Rochester airport is not that big.

County Road 8 and Hwy 63 will be closed off. I will be close to home. Go to the Y, work out, sew when I get home.

[mpcamb]

2. And don't let him use Air Force 1. Make him hitchhike there.

Air Force 1 is ours, not his.

[democrattotheend]

9. All presidents use AF1 for campaigning

I'm pretty sure they are required to travel on it. They are required to reimburse the government for campaign travel on AF1, but I think it's only at the rate of first class tickets, not the private jet rate. This is something every out of power party grumbles about. Republicans complained about it when Obama traveled on Air Force One for campaign events, and Democrats complained when Bush did it.

[mpcamb]

10. from USA Today 5/29/19- The president's campaign or political parties are required

The president's campaign or political parties are required to reimburse the government for the "political" aspects of a visit.

That’s where the accounting begins to get opaque.

Neither Trump, nor his predecessors, have disclosed how officials determine what portion of a trip is “political.” The White House doesn’t release the cost of individual trips. Though payments from the Trump campaign to the government show up in quarterly campaign finance reports, there is no way to determine which payment corresponds to which trip.
...
Even for a purely political trip, a presidential campaign doesn’t reimburse the government for the cost of operating Air Force One, which the Pentagon pegs at $165,000 per hour. Instead, Federal Election Commission rules require campaigns to reimburse the government for the estimated cost of a charter flight.
...
A Government Accountability Office report in January estimated the cost of four flights to Florida in 2017 at $4.4 million, which would put the hourly rate at about $275,000.

[whistler162]

12. AF1 is any plane the President flies on

that belongs to the Air Force.

[nature-lover]

3. My concern is what he will do once the rallies stop keeping him occupied.

[pazzyanne]

4. He will do what he did in 2016.

Keep on campaigning until he can no longer do that on the American taxpayers dime!

[DENVERPOPS]

7. Precisely

He will keep on with his rhetoric, soliciting money from his RepubliCONs that he can grift for himself and his family......
And, his spawn will keep on figuring out ways to grift the Treasury.....

I'm more than sure that Putin has already given him a comprehensive plan to handle anything and everything that comes his way.........

[RussBLib]

13. yeah, Trump will probably keep holding rallies even if he loses

that way he can grumble about how the Left stole the election and whip up his crowds to a lynching frenzy.

Fun!

[Miguelito Loveless]

5. Anyone who believes Trump "promises"

is an idiot.

[Talitha]

6. 250 limit? He'll still need 225 bussed in from central casting.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

8. Exactly. And the limit might be suggested by Trump's own campaign.

They're running out of money to pay the extras.

(as if they pay them anyway)