(TheConservativeTimes.org) – Former President Donald Trump held a rally in Pickens, South Carolina, on Saturday, July 1, temporarily driving the city’s population over 10 times its usual numbers.
Tens of thousands of people are believed to have assembled in Pickens to see the former president speak. Randall Beach, Pickens County sheriff, told the Spartanburg Herald-Journal that there is “no way” the number of attendees is “less than 50,000.”
As of 2021, the South Carolina town had a little over 3,300 permanent residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. When Trump’s rally occurred on July 1, 2023, the town’s population temporarily increased over 10 times its usual population.
Deputy Chuck James, the Pickens chief of police, told Newsweek that these numbers were not known at the time of the rally but were tallied after the rally had occurred. James also said that there were zero event-related arrests throughout the rally, while the Pickens police department provided security for the event.
The former president claimed on his social media platform Truth Social that the rally attracted at least 75,000 people, though an exact number hasn’t been confirmed.
In his speech, Trump talked about election reform, saying that Republicans would need to “move heaven and earth” to secure elections to prevent supposedly rigged elections.
The rally in Pickens is Trump’s first after his federal indictment. The Department of Justice charged the former President with 37 felony counts related to the mishandling of classified documents, specifically regarding storing such documents inside his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida. Trump pleaded not guilty on all charges when he was arraigned in a federal court in Miami on June 13.
The news comes as Trump continues to remain the kingmaker of the Republican Party, maintaining a 20-point lead over his most prominent challenger, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
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