Trump Overrules July 4 Mall Cancellation After 422,000-Person Crowd Evacuates
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Jul 6
Trump Overrules July 4 Mall Cancellation After 422,000-Person Crowd Evacuates
3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Jul 6
Summary
Trump said he personally reversed a recommendation to cancel the National Mall’s July Fourth “Salute to America” after storms forced a mass evacuation and delayed the program by more than three hours.
422,000 people were on the Mall at 7 p.m., Trump said, but fewer than half returned; he later put the returning crowd at at least 150,000, figures officials did not immediately confirm.
34 people were taken to hospitals and 58 more were treated on-site, many for heat-related issues, as triple-digit temperatures, lightning and wind strained security lines and shelter plans.
The event’s National Special Security Event status put the Secret Service in charge, adding screening checkpoints that complicated both the evacuation and reentry even as officials said contingency plans largely worked.
The episode is likely to sharpen scrutiny of weather preparation and crowd management at Trump’s White House-led America 250 celebration, which ended with an 850,000-firework display.