Trump and Pence drop plans to address outdoor rally crowds amid reports of low attendance

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Donald Trump and Mike Pence have scrapped plans to address an outdoor rally at the president's campaign event in Tulsa, Oklahoma, following reports of low attendance and a thinner-than-expected crowd inside the arena.

The campaign was set to address an "overflow" crowd that has since dwindled. On Friday, campaign director Brad Parscale touted an outdoor stage that was being built for the president.

"This will be the 1st time that POTUS speaks to BOTH crowds in person - inside & outside," he said on Twitter. "If you come to the rally and don't get into the BOK Center before it's full, you can still see the President in person!"

In a campaign statement, however, spokesperson Tim Murtaugh said "protesters interfered with supporters, even blocking access to metal detectors, which prevented people from entering the rally."

"Radical protesters, coupled with a relentless onslaught from the media, attempted to frighten off the president's supporters," he claimed.

One woman who was peacefully protesting while sitting on the ground outside the arena was arrested, after the campaign asked the Tulsa Police Department to remove her from the area.

Tulsa officials had anticipated 100,000 people in its downtown for the rally. The BOK Centre has a capacity of roughly 19,000 people. Roughly 400,000 people live in Tulsa, and the state's population is around 4 million people.

On 15 June, the president claimed that nearly 1 million had requested tickets to the rally.

Reports from outside and inside the rally in the hours before the president was set to appear, typically carnival-like events with crowds lined up for hours waiting to enter, show the area had yet to reach capacity.

The campaign had initially planned to hold the rally — his first since 2 March and his first during the coronavirus pandemic — on 19 June, or Juneteenth, but moved the date to the following day after waves of backlash for using a day recognising African American emancipation from slavery as a backdrop for his return to rallies that have provoked white nationalism.

Tulsa also recently recognised the 99th anniversary of the nation's largest racist massacre, in which white mobs killed dozens of African American residents.

Masks were handed out to attendees, though wearing them was not enforced and most attendees ignored guidelines to do so.