Highlights From Michigan MAGA Rally! Massive Overflow Crowds! FULL SPEECH!

NPR had this to say:

At his Thursday night rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., President Trump and his supporters were in a celebratory mood.

"After three years of lies and smears and slander, the Russia hoax is finally dead," Trump said, to loud cheers. "The collusion delusion is over."

The rally was the president's first since the end of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

In touting Mueller's findings, Trump also continued spreading an untruth he has been repeating since the investigation ended.

"The special counsel completed its report and found no collusion and no obstruction," he said.

Reporters on the scene are saying it looked like and sounded like the Super Bowl!

Heavy had more on the estimated number of people in attendance (SPOILER ALERT: too many to count!):

President Donald Trump held his first rally since Mueller completed his report. And while both Republican and Democratic politicians are pushing for the report to be made public, Trump and his supporters are celebrating the results. His rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan today was packed. Here is a look at crowd photos and just how many people attended.

Trump’s campaign manager, Brad Parscale, tweeted that there were more than 100,000 RSVPs for Trump’s rally today, with 14,000 indoors and nearly 20,000 people in the streets. Numbers from campaigns are often viewed with skepticism, so we’ll also look at number reports from other sources and compare them.

Local news source The Monroe News noted that the Van Andel Arena stands appeared to be completely full. A quick Google search for the maximum capacity of Van Andel Arena shows that it’s 10,834. However, Van Andel Arena’s website states that the capacity is 12,000-plus. Wikipedia lists the arena as having 12,858 seats for end-stage shows and 13,184 seats for center-stage shows. The seating varies depending on the event’s setup.

So although it’s unlikely they had 14,000 people indoors (as the max capacity doesn’t quite reach this size), it’s possible they a little more than 13,100 people inside depending on the setup. Here’s a video of the arena, which shows a packed arena:

What’s tougher to confirm is the number of people in the overflow, waiting outside because they couldn’t get in, but it was indeed a large number.

No matter how you look at it, this was definitely a big crowd that was filled to maximum capacity, showing that enthusiasm for Trump in many areas is still high. Democrats who want to have a chance at beating him will need a candidate who also draws enthusiasm, since Trump’s enthusiasm is still very much alive. The candidate with the closest crowd-size numbers so far is Bernie Sanders, who brought in about 15,000 or more to two rallies in California this past weekend. But at this point, it’s too early to tell who the Democratic nominee is going to be.

NewsOn6 had these highlights to report from the event:

Feeling vindicated by the Justice Department's summary of special counsel Robert Mueller's report, President Trump celebrated the end of the "Russia hoax" with his ardent supporters in Michigan, a state that helped fuel his poll-defying triumph in 2016 and which will be crucial for his reelection bid next year.

In his first campaign rally since Attorney General William Barr released his summary of Mueller's two-year investigation, which did not establish the Trump campaign "colluded or coordinated" with the Russian government in their election interference effort, the president touted what he called the "total" and "complete" exoneration of his presidency.

"The Russia hoax is finally dead," he told the boisterous crowd in Grand Rapids, adding later, "The collusion delusion is over."

• The key findings from the Justice Department summary of Mueller's report

As he has done in the past four days, Mr. Trump misrepresented the Justice Department summary of Mueller's investigation, claiming on Thursday evening that Mueller found "no obstruction."

According to the four-page summary authored by Barr, Mueller did not find evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow, but the special counsel did not reach a conclusion in his probe into whether the president obstructed justice. "While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him," Mueller's report read, according to the Justice Department summary.

Barr, and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, determined the evidence gathered by Mueller did not establish Mr. Trump had committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.

Nevertheless, an energized Mr. Trump lashed out at Democrats for supporting probes into his conduct, policies and business dealings, accusing them of concocting a "sinister effort" to relitigate the 2016 presidential election and undermine his administration.

"The Democrats now have to decide if they want to keep defrauding the public with ridiculous bullshit and partisan investigations, or whether they will apologize to the American people," he told his supporters.

In the days since the release of Barr's four-page summary of Mueller's report, the president has pivoted to health care, a subject that helped propel Democrats to victory in the 2018 midterms elections. This week, the Justice Department asked a federal appeals court to invalidate the entire Affordable Care Act, something Mr. Trump and Republicans failed to accomplish when they controlled both chambers of Congress.

Here are some of the most noteworthy moments from the rally:

 

Trump tweets there are "massive overflow crowds"

President Trump tweeted after the rally that there were "massive overflow crowds" and posted a video showing crowds outside the arena.

Mr. Trump also tweeted it was a "beautiful rally" and "thank you, I love you!"

After the rally, Mr. Trump flew to Florida, where he plans to spend the weekend at Mar-a-Lago.

Democrats are the party of hoaxes, late-term abortion and open borders, Trump claims

Casting their party as an extreme far-left movement, Mr. Trump claimed Democrats have embraced hoaxes, late term abortions and open borders.

The president falsely claimed Democrats are backing "extreme late-term abortion" that would "allow children to be ripped from their mothers womb right up until the moment of birth."

 

Trump pledges $300 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

Appealing to the Michigan crowd, Mr. Trump vowed his government will allocate $300 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a clean up effort started by the Obama administration in 2010.

"I support the Great Lakes. Always have," he said. "They're beautiful. They're big. Very deep."

The president's pledge appears to be yet another reversal from one of the cuts outlined in his administration's new budget proposal, which suggested slashing funding to the restoration program to $30 million.

Earlier Thursday, the president said officials in his administration were "overridden" to stop a cut to federal funding for the Special Olympics.

  

Trump says Democrats have 2 options

The president said Democrats have two options: continue investigations into his conduct, policies and business dealings, or apologize to him and agree to support his political agenda.

"The Democrats now have to decide if they want to keep defrauding the public with ridiculous bullshit and partisan investigations, or whether they will apologize to the American people," he told the crowd

Mr. Trump urged Democrats to work with his administration to broker deals on infrastructure and trade.

To chants of “lock them up,” Trump calls for his critics to be held “accountable”

Provoking fervent chants of "lock them up!" among his supporters, the president called on his detractors to be held accountable for supporting an investigation into possible collusion between his presidential campaign and the Kremlin, which Mueller did not establish in his probe.

"Lock them up!" the raucous crowded repeated.

Trump: “The collusion delusion is over”

Firing up the crowd, the president wasted no time to praise the Justice Department's summary of Mueller's final report, which he said represented a "complete" and "total" exoneration of his presidency.

"The Russia hoax is finally dead," he said, adding later, "The collusion delusion is over."

The president slammed Democrats for orchestrating what he called a "sinister effort" to undermine his poll-defying triumph during the 2016 election, which he accused his critics in government and the media of trying to relitigate through false accusations.

Promising a "spectacular" replacement, Trump says Affordable Care Act will be "terminated"

Escalating his recent attacks against the Affordable Care Act, President Trump predicted the health care law, which insures millions of American, will be "terminated" in court.

"We're winning the Texas lawsuit and right now we're on the winning side. And hopefully we'll win at the appellate division and go to the Supreme Court to terminate Obamacare," Mr. Trump said, referring to the lawsuit by a coalition of Republican attorneys general against the law, President Obama's signature domestic achievement.

 

The president, who has asked a group of Republican senators to devise a replacement for the Obama-era law, said his party will come up with "something that's really spectacular."

This week, the Justice Department asked a federal appeals court to invalidate the entire Affordable Care Act, prompting Democrats to launch a media blitz on health care and and the need to protect the coverage of those with pre-existing conditions, an issue they ran on successfully during the 2018 midterm elections.

The decision by the Justice Department, as well as Mr. Trump's renewed condemnation of the health care law, has unnerved some Republicans who believe the White House should be focusing on Attorney General Wiliam Barr's summary of special counsel Robert Mueller's report, which did not establish the Trump campaign "conspired or coordinated" with the Russian government.

Trump says he has "overridden" people to ensure Special Olympics funding

Departing the White House, President Trump said he has "overridden" people in his administration to reverse a proposed cut to funding for the Special Olympics.

"The Special Olympics will be funded," Mr. Trump told reporters. "I just authorized the funding of the Special Olympics. I have overridden my people."

As part of budget proposal to slash $7 billion funds from the Department of Education, the administration proposed cutting the approximately $18 million in federal funding to the Special Olympics. The proposal provoked a public outcry and condemnation in Congress, including among some Republicans like Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who was president of the organizing committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Salt Lake City.

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