President Donald Trump told Fox News’ Harris Faulkner that he did not select Juneteenth as the date for his Tulsa rally on purpose, and claimed the rally would be a “celebration” without specifying what would be celebrated.
On Friday morning’s edition of Fox & Friends, Faulkner dribbled out short clips of her sit-down with Trump, including one which briefly addressed the controversy over Trump’s symbolically fraught rally. It’s scheduled for June 19, a day commemorating the end of slavery in the United States, in Tulsa, Oklahoma — site of a historic racist massacre.
Faulkner introduced the clip by telling the show’s co-hosts that Tulsa “is home to the Greenwood community. They used to call at the Black Wall Street back in the 1920s. It’s still seen as an area that came back from one of the worst race situations, riots, in our history as America.”
“So there’s some question about why the president would go there first. But initially, and the headlines that were being made is we were sitting down, had to do with the fact that Juneteenth is also the day in which African Americans recognize freedom from slavery. And it also is an emotionally charged day. Now I just wanted to get an idea of why they chose that date. There are lots of dates on a calendar with lots of meanings, so I know that,” Faulkner said, then played the brief clip.
“Your rally in Oklahoma is set for June 19th. Was that on purpose?” Faulkner asked Trump.
“No, but I know exactly what you’re going to say,” Trump began, to which Faulkner interrupted “Well I’m just asking, I’ve not got anything to say.”
“Think about it as a celebration. My rallies are celebrations,” Trump said. “We’re starting, in the history of politics I think I can say there’s never been any group or any person that’s had rallies like I do, I go and I just say get me the biggest stadium and we fill it up every time, we’ve never had a vacant seat.”