Severe thunderstorms nearly upended President Donald Trump’s July Fourth rally and fireworks display Saturday night, prompting an hourslong evacuation of the National Mall and significantly curtailing the main event in America’s 250th anniversary celebration.
After more than three hours of delays, Trump took the stage around 11:15 p.m., saying he had been adamant that the speech go on even if it meant holding off until deep into the night. He said about 150,000 people had returned for the rally out of an original crowd of more than 375,000.
“If you think that was easy,” he said of the delay, “that wasn’t.”
Trump mostly stayed on-script during the roughly 40-minute speech, extolling American founding principles and military prowess. He sprinkled his own politics within the stories of war heroes and displays of historic flags, including several references to the ongoing fight against communism. He demanded Congress pass the SAVE America Act, a bill senators have repeatedly told him is dead on arrival, and said mail-in voting should be severely curbed. And he called for loosening of gun restrictions.
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A cast of special guests joined him on stage, including World War II veterans and the crew of the Artemis II flight.
The historically large fireworks show was also a historically late one, starting at midnight and lasting 40 minutes. A military band played a set of pop music anthems against a sky glowing with pyrotechnic explosions.
Trump and the event’s organizers framed the Salute to America event as a smashing success. But the lead-up to the speech on Saturday was marked by complications.
Early in the day, dozens of men wearing masks and clothing associated with the white nationalist group Patriot Front marched in D.C. near Capitol Hill. Some carried flags and chanted “reclaim America.” Police said they had dispersed by late morning.
A huge swath of downtown D.C. was locked down for the July Fourth festivities, with extensive road closures and security measures seldom seen around the National Mall to this degree.
Security lines stretched several blocks, with some people reportedly waiting hours to get through the magnetometers. The event received the highest national security designation from the Department of Homeland Security, mobilizing the federal government’s vast law enforcement resources and putting the Secret Service in charge of them.
Temperatures topped 100 degrees. Cooling tents and water stations were set up in the secure zone on the mall, where attendees were strictly limited in what they could bring inside.
Local emergency workers treated more than 50 people for heat-related problems in and around the secured area, city officials said in an emailed statement around 8 p.m. Twelve people were taken to local hospitals, they said.
The thunder nearly halted the event. Just as programming was set to begin at the Washington Monument grounds, event organizers and law enforcement officials abruptly halted the festivities, saying dangerous storms were closing in on the area. Tens of thousands of people who had gone through airport-style security in triple-digit heat were ordered to seek shelter.
Organizers initially sent people to nearby tents, but the warnings soon became more urgent, with instructions to move to temporary shelters in museums and federal buildings. Some shelters, including one in the IRS headquarters, were quickly filled to capacity, officials said.
The Great American State Fair along the mall was also emptied. Numerous planned military flyovers were canceled.
Even with lightning and rain threatening the District, Trump took a cavalier tone about the weather and refused to call off his speech, which was originally set for 9:45 p.m.
“We will wait it out, I don’t care if it’s 2:00 O’Clock in the morning, or in one hour from now,” he posted on TruthSocial at 9:05 p.m., as attendees hunkered down in federal lobbies and milled around security fencing, awaiting word on whether the event would go forward.
“I’m not going to let some rain stop our 250th,” Trump wrote, saying he would soon leave the White House. Later, in his speech, he thanked attendees for their patience.
The Secret Service reopened security screening around 9:45 p.m., allowing a diminished audience to pass through magnetometers for the second time in the day.
The fireworks show, which starts around 9 p.m. most years, was three hours later than usual and far larger — with the potential for pollution and “very unhealthy” conditions, The Washington Post reported based on National Park Service documents.
Around the city, emergency calls spiked on Saturday, which is typical for a major holiday, officials said. The city received more than 3,300 calls to 911 citywide throughout the day, about 600 more than normal for a mid-summer Saturday, with most due to fireworks incidents and the evacuation of the National Mall.
U.S. Park Police reported three arrests as of 8 p.m., city officials said: two for disobeying an order and one for a liquor law violation. The Secret Service and Metropolitan Police reported no arrests.
Metro trains were scheduled to run until at least 2 a.m. to accommodate the crowds making the late night trip back to homes and hotels.
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