Trump Had Promised a Huge Rally in Tulsa. He Spoke to a Half-Empty Arena.

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Things didn't quite go as President Donald Trump had planned in Tulsa on Saturday for his first campaign rally since March. Days earlier, Trump had said " we're either close to or over one million people wanting to go" to the rally. "Nobody has heard of numbers of like this," he boasted. "We expect to have a record-setting crowd. We've never had an empty seat, and we certainly won't in Oklahoma." When Saturday night rolled around though, there were plenty of empty seats at the 19,000-capacity arena in Tulsa.

Trump just days ago: "We've never had an empty seat, and we certainly won't in Oklahoma." pic.twitter.com/H8IU2hrvCB https://t.co/SD7yixF9hM

- Will Steakin (@wsteaks) June 20, 2020

Almost One Million people request tickets for the Saturday Night Rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma!

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2020

A whole lot of empty seats. Certainly not since he's been president has there been one this empty by the time the VP took the stage. Don't remember any this empty in the campaign either. https://t.co/J5YQkW3Dyc

- Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) June 20, 2020

Trump's campaign had expected such a huge crowd that the president planned to give a speech to an overflow group of supporters outside of the rally. But the outdoor portion ended up being canceled as there were barely any people there. A "campaign source" told CNN that they were afraid of angering Trump because of the thin crowds. In canceling the outside speech, the campaign blamed protesters saying they "interfered with supporters" and blocked "access to metal detectors, which prevented people from entering the rally." Reporters on the ground though noted that weren't really a lot of protesters in Tulsa on Saturday.

A video panorama view inside the arena for @realDonaldTrump rally in Tulsa. pic.twitter.com/h4H8r60YwQ

- Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) June 20, 2020

As VP speaks, here was the floor in front of him and the bowl behind media pic.twitter.com/03TZxHymm8

- Steadman™ (@AsteadWesley) June 21, 2020

Secret Service has moved crowd back from the overflow stage so it can be broken down. pic.twitter.com/iIxXfnpOPn

- Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) June 20, 2020

WATCH: Due to lack of attendance, workers have begun to dismantle an outdoor stage that had been setup in an overflow area for a speech by President Trump near the arena in Tulsa tonight.

The president will speak soon in the arena. pic.twitter.com/SekDGR2f2Z

- MSNBC (@MSNBC) June 20, 2020

This is what overflow looks like at the Trump rally in Tulsa right now. Pence is scheduled to speak out here in about 10 minutes. People still streaming in but not nearly the number the campaign said they were expecting. pic.twitter.com/hbypfviOxv

- Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) June 20, 2020

The campaign also made a point of stating that at least Trump was holding a rally, compared to "the sleepy campaign being run by Joe Biden from his basement in Delaware." Shortly before the start of the event, the campaign sent a text message to people who had signed up for tickets: "There's still space!" There were such few people outside that workers started to dismantle the outdoor stage even before Trump started to speak inside the arena.

The Trump campaign said recently that over one million tickets were requested for the Tulsa rally, the first rally in months due to covid-19.

Trump proclaimed that there wouldn't be an empty seat.

I'll let this video inside the rally speak for itself. pic.twitter.com/se6er6j49m

- Elizabeth Thomas (@lizzkatherine_) June 20, 2020

Campaign confirms the outdoor remarks have been cancelled. Statement per pooler @jdawsey1 pic.twitter.com/Tf72AGhJlW

- Courtney Subramanian (@cmsub) June 20, 2020

Trump himself seemed to make a nod to the smaller-than-expected crowd as he appeared to blame protesters and the media. "We had some very bad people outside," he said. "They were doing bad things." He also pointed a finger at the media, suggesting journalists had been discouraging people from attending. "I've been watching the fake news for weeks now, and everything is negative, don't go, don't come, don't do anything," he said. Even though the campaign handed out masks to supporters as they filed into the arena, most were not wearing them and did not seem particularly concerned about social distancing.