President Donald Trump said in a Sunday Truth Social post that he had “overturned” a decision to cancel festivities in on Saturday due to weather.
“The Crowd at 7:05 in the evening was 422,000 people! All were forced to leave because of the weather, the event was cancelled, and everyone was gone because of lightning. When I heard that it was cancelled, I immediately overturned that decision, and waited a while for people to come back. Incredibly, at least 150,000 people returned, and it was an even more spectacular evening than it would have been as normalized! It showed work under pressure,” Trump declared in the post.
“Congratulations to the Secret Service and on being able to get so many people back into the Arena in such rapid fashion! It was an amazing evening made even more spectacular by the fact that, immediately after the Great Fireworks ended, the rains came down, full blast!” he added.
People flocked to attend Independence Day festivities in D.C. as Americans around the nation celebrated the country’s , but attendees were asked to evacuate and take shelter on Saturday evening.
“Due to approaching severe storms, Freedom 250, United States Secret Service, United States Park Police, National Park Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and all public safety partners are asking all guests to evacuate event grounds and seek temporary shelter in a nearby building,” Freedom 250 spokesperson Danielle Alvarez noted in part of a Saturday evening statement.
But in another post on X later that night, Freedom 250 declared, “At President Donald J. Trump’s direction, gates to the National Mall will reopen at 9:45 PM.”
Trump ultimately delivered a speech later on Saturday night, which was followed shortly thereafter by a massive fireworks show that began at about midnight.
“I would like to congratulate Freedom 250, a Great White House Commission, and Pyrotecnico, on producing the Most Spectacular Fireworks Show I have ever seen, and Ive seen them all. Congratulations on a job well done!” Trump declared in a Truth Social post on Sunday.
