Turnout for the event has been smaller than expected. The campaign is blaming protesters, the campaign is blaming the news media for the crowd size. Clearly, not a full house, but it also comes on the heels of a tumultuous day, truly for the white house with questions over the handling of the firing of a top federal prosecutor. President trump due to take the stage this hour in tulsa. Cnn tonight with abby phillip, martin savidge. Ryan, earlier in the Trump Campaign texted, theres still space. They wanted more people to show up, but theres still plenty of space right now. Yeah, thats right, wolf. There have been people that come into the arena since we spoke to you last hour, but you can see behind me, this arena is definitely not full. This is still a pretty good crowd by campaign standards. Hard to estimate exactly how many people are here. Its close to full but certainly not full. The entire bowl of the upper deck has yet to fill up and were expecting President Trump to appear at any moment. Vice president pence just wrapped up his remarks a few minutes ago and important to put this into context, wolf. As i mentioned before in terms of political crowds, this is a very impressive crowd but not anywhere near the expectations that the Trump Campaign themselves and the president himself set for this event. They expected to fill this entire 19,000 seat arena and they also expected a tremendous overflow crowd. They said somewhere in the range of a Million People had rsvped and could be as many as 40,000 outside. Well, that outdoor event never materialized. The president and the Vice President chose not to speak outside. They pushed everybody that was outside inside here and it still wasnt enough to fill this venue. Now, were told that the president is here in oklahoma getting set to speak to this crowd. Just a few minutes ago, the Vice President spoke, he was very energetic talking about this being the start of what he called the Great American comeback, but again, wolf, the Trump Campaign was hoping that they were going to be able to demonstra demonstrate a tremendous campaign and the point and the economy were ready to reopen at least by their own standards, fell short of those goals. Wolf . They certainly did. Huge overflow about the anticipated tens of thousands of people, they clearly didnt show, break down the stage right now tell us what youve seen over the last several hours. Reporter just a few minutes ago, some crews came out here and started breaking down the stage, taking down the ballistic glass that was put up in expectation that President Trump would be speaking to this crowd here tonight. Over the course of the last several hours, we watched as people walked in through the checkpoint that is just right here next to where we are standing and walked through this area. It never really got more than maybe a fifth full. It was very empty for most of the time. They had some preprogramming with trump surrogates given remarks and trying to rile up the crowd but as time went own, the crowd actually got smaller and smaller and eventually, it seemed Campaign Staffers were pushing people into the indoor part of this event because there were clearly not enough people coming out to this outdoor portion. The imagery here that you can kind of tell based on how its set up is that had this area been full, they had said were expecting 40,000 people, it would have looked like a sea of people in front of a stage. That is not nearly what they ended up having in terms of imagery and in another kind of indication of how it seemed that this event was planned, as the president was flying in to tulsa this afternoon, we could see air force one flying low over this ci city, a few dozen cheered but so few, it would have been one of the moments had there been the thousands and thousands of people that were expected to be out here, its clearly a disappointment for this campaign, for the president who has been banking on crowds, bragging that there would not be a seat empty and they would have tens of thousands of people in overflow and despite what the campaign is saying in terms of protesters blocking entrances, wolf, its important to know there are many entrances to the event for the overflow section. As we were coming in, a trickle of people coming along with us. Weve seen no indication that protesters have been preventing people from coming into this event. And many people are choosing to be in the area for the environment and not choosing to come inside shoulder to shoulder with these packed crowds during this pandemic. Many people not Wearing Masks even though they were available at the door. Ab abby, stand by. Youre with the crowds protesting the rally and the news media. Have you seen any evidence of that at all, martin . Reporter well, if thats what the Trump Administration is maintaining, just 200 protesters prevent 100,000 people, i mean, there are protesters but compared to the demonstrations over the last few weeks with no disrespect, to those who are protesting, these are very small numbers. Maybe 175 people protesting and there are a lot of people protesting also on the conservative side as well. They do fill up to get to the security checkpoint. The sidewalks are still open. Security teams are still saying, you can pass by. You can come in. So its clear that the protesters are not a major obstruction to anyone who wants to get in. And as abby pointed out, there are other ways to enter the facility. This is the crowd. Its been for the most part, orderly. They havent done anything out of the ordinary. Its been, as far as we know, only one arrest and even that person was released and allowed to go to the rally. So you cant really point to this and say, its the whole reason that they didnt. We opened the gate at 10 30 a. M. Local time and yes, there was a rush of people who waited for days but after that, it was evident then there werent 100,000 people in the city as had been predicted and you would be hard pressed to say there were 20,000 that could fill the facility. As to why . I dont believe trump voters are scared away by protesters. Ive spent a lot of time with them. This wouldnt cause them to stay away if they really wanted to be here, wolf . Martin, thank you. Gary tuchman with us as well. I understand youre at that outdoor stage with vice President Trump and pence were going to speak to the huge overflow crowd that never clearly materialized. Theyre taking down the stage. Do people seem to be surprised by the turnout . Reporter theres a lot of surprise about that, wolf. Heres an interesting story. Weve been at this overflow area all day and expected to see President Trump and Vice President pence speak up there and as abby said, martin said, something out of the order and secret service said you have to leave and said, why do we have to leave . Nothing going on here anymore. Its empty. Talking about how this was cancelled, the outdoor speech by the president and appears that the campaign asked the secret service to get the heck out of there. And still see what happened. Something i want to tell you wolf. Like i said, been here all day. As a matter of fact, one man told me, what are you talking about . No protesters there. And there were no protesters at the security area. When we were here a few hours ago, wolf, it was very crowded, a festive atmosphere. A lot of people said they didnt want to go inside. They wanted to hear the president speak here and then started thinning out, the crowds went inside, most people without masks, 10 at best. When it came in, wasnt mandatory to wear it and most made the decision not to wear it but after a couple of hours, got very empty here and one last thing i want to tell you, wolf, the Trump Campaign said a million campaign, lets say its true. About 980,000 people, a large noshow rate. One spokesman told our ryan nobles. Sadly, protesters interfered with supporters, even blocking access to the metal detectors that prevented people from entering the rally. Coupled with a relentless onslaught from the media attempted to frighten off the president s supporters. Youre there, eyewitness. Did you see anything along those lines . No protesters near any of the security areas to come in. As a matter of fact, the security people were very kind and pleasant all day. It was nice talking with them. By the end of the day, kind of bored because people were going through. The argument whether the news media scared people, theres that possibility. Thats not our job to scare people but our job is to tell the story. Ive been in oklahoma all week. Tulsa county, the highest number of covid cases since this all bega began. Its your right to get sick if you want to, but not your right to get other people sick, whether your parents or grandparents. Its a story we told, it could have affected people, no question about that. Gary, be careful over there. Get back to you and all of our reporters. Well be checking all the late breaking developments. Were also continuing to monitor the president s first rally. Expected to speak to a smaller crowd than expected. Still plenty of people there, but you can see the upper deck not very full. Theres the president right there. Well follow all these developments, much more of our coverage when we come back. birds singing bouncy keyboard music [announcer] food delivery just got more rewarding. package crashing into ground now that gruhhub gives you rewards when you order. dog barking did you order tacos again . device beeping boom, rewarded with a perk like 5. 00 off. Ordering dinner for the family . Voila rewarded with free delivery and a side of quiet. Grubhub gives you rewards for rewarding yourself, with food. doorbell ringing [crowd] grubhub scooter horn beeping your cells. Trillions of them. Thats why centrum contains 24 key nutrients to support your energy. So you can take care of what matters most. And try new centrum minis today. Its just that its. Lavender, yes it is. Old spice, its for men. But i like the smell of it. [music playing] clearly an important day out of the campaign trail. Right now want to discuss with our chief political analyst gloria borger. Cnn reporter and factchecker, dana, youve been doing some reporting. How much concern from the Trump Campaign about the optics of this, with rising cases, six Campaign Staffers, advanced team testing positive for coronavirus earlier. What are you hearing . There was concern from the president himself even before it was clear that the crowd was not what the campaign and the president himself had predicted and had promised. And what the president was upset about and our colleague kevin had told us earlier i was told from a source familiar with the president s thinking that he was very upset as the morning and afternoon went on because of the intense reporting about the remarkable move that he made in firing, well, first asking for the resignation of the u. S. Attorney in the Southern District of new york who has been involved in investigating his associates, but then also, obviously, firing him when that didnt go as planned. That the president was lamenting, according to the source i talked to, why people upset about it given the fact he has the right to do it, not obviously fully comprehending just because he has the right doesnt make it right. And he was lamenting it was overshadowing this rally that he hope would be the real reset for him with his sinking poll numbers. Again, that was before what we see now which is a crowd that is much lower, much smaller than he wanted as our colleagues out there were reporting the overflow crowd which they spent a lot of money and time and effort to build a stage for didnt even materialize at all. Look, if you look at those pictures, this is a very big crowd, but if you are donald trump and crowd size is the end all be all for you and you make a promise and it doesnt materialize, he has got to be seething right now. Not very happy for sure. The president boasted all week about the expected high turnout for the rally in tulsa tonight but you can see, theres plenty of empty seats, especially in the upper deck right now. They were projecting about a Million People, supposedly, who wanted tickets to get inside. The arena could hold 19,000 or 20,000 and there were supposed to be 40,000 or 50,000 of this overflow outside. There were maybe a few hundred that showed up for that. But what about the actual numbers . What do you see unfolding right now . I dont want to get into my own estimates but far short of not only what the President Campaign team said but the president himself said. Not only fill with 20,000 or so people but said they would probably have 40,000 or so in a second venue, he suggested they might need to use. As you said, they didnt get anywhere close to that. A president who repeatedly lies that he has never had an empty seat. He said that over and over and even at events where they have had empty seats and so im curious as to whether that those will persist, whether hell make that ever again after tonight, wolf. What was the strategic reasoning for holding this First PoliticalCampaign Rally really clearly republican stronghold . Thats right. He won this state, wolf, with 65 of the vote, and when they started planning this event, it looks like the covid, they thought the covid line was pretty flat in the state of oklahoma. As we all know, it has since spiked, and so if youre planning a rally and you want to make this the great comeback of donald trump, and the first in a series of Campaign Rallies and the president s excited about it, you want to go where you know the president is quite popular and, of course, they chose oklahoma. Its a natural place for them to pick, but tonight, what we see is a real disappointment and as dana was talking about earlier, this has got to disappoint this president who wanted this, you know, come out of the box to a huge sellout crowd. He started his administration talking about crowd size, if youll recall at the inauguration, and this is not, empty seats, even if theres bleacher seats, not what he wanted to see. He talked about, id like to see people at my rallies together. He didnt want he talked about how social distancing could kind of interrupt that. Were not seeing social distancing at this rally so far, wolf. What we are seeing are empty stands of seats in the bleachers that the campaign expected to be full and the question i asked is, who is the president going to blame for this . We know, theyre blaming the news media, gloria, blaming protesters. The news media supposedly, because we reminded people that there was a pandemic under way and it was getting worse in tulsa, oklahoma. I have a feeling he might blame his Campaign Manager, i dont know, dana can weigh in on this but im just wondering whether hell look at the people around him and say, whos to blame . What do you think, dana . Well, listen. It was four years ago today that corey lewandowski, his First Campaign manager was fired, believe it or not. He was in the job for more than a year and he was fired, still in the president s orbit. But he is not the Campaign Manager. That is brad parskale, who has been very outfront with members of the campaign about the need to get and the hope and the expectation more importantly, thats the keyword, expectation that this would be such a huge event and a huge crowd. Again, i want to emphasize, if you look at that crowd for any regular runofthemill politician, that is a very big crowd. Thats not what this is about. This is about setting expectations, and look, there has been tension. There have been fights, our own Jeremy Diamond reported about between the Campaign Manager and the president , but my understanding is that they have a very Good Relationship and the most important relationship part of this is that he has a very close relationship with jared kushner, who is a huge, huge influence in this campaign. Maybe the biggest influence behind the scenes, that is not really talked about very much and that is a factor that we cant forget. Yeah, that ts what im hearg as well. Were continuing to follow the breaking news this hour. Well have much more on our other breaking news story that could potentially overshadow this Political Campaign rally. One of the most important federal prosecutors in the United States suddenly fired. Stay with us. Here in the situation room. Can i find an Investment Firm with a truly longterm view thats been through multiple market cycles for over 85 years . With capital group, i can. Talk to your financial professional or consultant for investment risks and information. Talk to your financial professional or consultant then you might have a dcondition called dry mouth. . Biotene is clinically proven to soothe and moisturize a dry mouth. Plus, it freshens breath. Biotene. Immediate and long lasting dry mouth symptom relief. Hold on one second. Sure. Okay. Okay safe drivers save 40 guys guys check it out. Safe drivers save 40 safe drivers save 40 safe drivers save 40 thats safe drivers save 40 . It is, thats safe drivers save 40 . 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