Waco (FOX 44/KWKT) — Estimates are still coming in on the size of the crowd that attended former President Donald Trump’s campaign rally at the Waco Regional Airport Saturday. Waco Police gave FOX 44 News an estimate but then retracted it saying only the event host could release that kind of information.
Waco leaders expected more than 15,000 people to attend the event that started with guest speakers at 2 p.m. The former president arrived at 6 p.m. and spoke for roughly 90 minutes.
Some of the Republican guests of honor who attended included Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Pastor Robert Jeffress, and Representatives Roger Wiliams, Matt Gaetz, and Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Rock legend Ted Nugent performed the “Star Spangled Banner” at 2 p.m. and Pastor Ramiro Pena of Christ the King Church gave the opening prayer. You can watch his program on FOX 44 every Sunday morning at 9:30 a.m.
There are several vendors at the event, but not all are looking to make money. One man from Tennessee is giving away free religious books, as he does at all of the other 16 Trump rallies he has attended.
During his speech, Mr. Trump attacked his critics in the media, Washington, D.C., Florida, and in New York. He announced last weekend that he expected to be indicted and arrested on Tuesday. That did not happen.
The Manhattan grand jury investigating Donald Trump over hush money payments turned to other matters on Thursday, delaying until next week at the earliest any vote on a historic indictment of the former president, according to a person familiar with the matter.
It was not clear whether Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecutors planned to question more witnesses before the grand jurors next week or when a vote might be taken about possibly indicting Trump.
Friday morning, Mr. Trump argued that filing charges against him could result in “potential death & destruction.”
“What kind of person can charge another person, in this case, a former President of the United States, who got more votes than any sitting President in history, and leading candidate (by far!) for the Republican Party nomination, with a Crime, when it is known by all that NO Crime has been committed, & also known that potential death & destruction in such a false charge could be catastrophic for our Country?” Trump wrote on Truth Social shortly after 1 a.m. Friday.
“Why & who would do such a thing? Only a degenerate psychopath that truly hates the USA!” Trump wrote.
The post marked an escalation in Trump’s barrage of attacks against Bragg. It also further fueled concerns that Trump is stoking violence ahead of potential charges.
The former president also promised to end the War in Ukraine in 24 hours if elected in 2024, as well as undo every Executive Order passed by Pres. Biden.