‘Not Just a Rally’: Pete Hegseth Declares Butler, PA a ‘Destination’ Ahead Trump’s Return to Assassination Attempt Site – 100K Expected
Tens of thousands of voters amassed Saturday morning in Butler, Pennsylvania, hours before former President Donald Trump was scheduled to speak from the same stage where a would-be assassin’s bullet nearly killed him in July.
Fox News host Pete Hegseth was on the ground with thousands of conservatives early Saturday morning ahead of Trump’s scheduled 5 p.m. ET speech. Many had flocked to see him return to the site where he was struck in the ear by a bullet fired by a man police identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks.
Trump was grazed on July 13 in Butler while one of his supporters, 50-year-old Corey Comperatore, was killed.
On Fox & Friends Saturday, host Rachel Campos-Duffy asked Hegsheth about the expected crowd size on Saturday in Butler.
“Pete, I’m curious, is the crowd, it looks from what I can see is that the crowd will be even bigger today than it was on that day in July, that fateful day,” she said. “I mean, you’re in a field. Is there any limit to how many people can show up? What are the number estimations, what are you thinking?”
Hegseth said Saturday’s gathering would be different from most Trump rallies and that he had heard as many as 100,000 people might show up. Hegseth said:
That’s a good question. I don’t know if there’s a limit to the amount of people that could be in the field. I think the belief is that it can spill over as big and as wide as they want, and we’ll have to ask [reporter Salina Zito] who’s going to be joining us what she knows as far as potential crowd size. But again, I’ve heard up to potentially 100,000 people. This has become a destination event.
There are Trump rallies and then there are massive, huge Trump rallies. This is part of the crowd that was here overnight. This is just the group overnight. As I look out it’s an endless sea of people, and the cars are still coming as well. So, this is Pennsylvania, guys. This is the key state. And what are people doing here? Walking the crowd with, have you registered the vote? Are you registered to vote? So this is a get-out-the-vote turnout effort, too, not just a rally.
Watch above via Fox News.