Trump Rally Moved To Waukesha Due To 'Lease Issue,' Airport Says

WAUKESHA, WI— President Donald Trump initially planned to hold his Saturday rally at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport but his campaign was denied the request. The request was made before

Air Force One still landed at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport on Saturday and was handled by the 128th Air Refueling Wing as usual. Harold Mester, Director of Public Affairs & Marketing, for the airport released the following statement:

"The Airport Director notified a tenant that holding any large special event that is non-aeronautical in nature would be a violation of its lease with Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport and would be in violation of the City of Milwaukee limit on public gatherings. The decision to hold this event was made without prior notification to the Airport Director, which is a requirement of each tenant’s lease.

The concern for the Airport is the impact to airline flight operations, as the event originally planned for Saturday morning would require a ground stop, resulting in canceled airline flights for an extended period of time. We cannot allow any tenant to impact airport passengers in this way."

President Donald Trump assured supporters packed shoulder to shoulder at a trio of rallies Saturday, including one in Waukesha, that "we're rounding the turn" on the coronavirus — despite spiking cases — and mocked challenger Joe Biden for raising alarms about the pandemic. During a Saturday night rally at the Waukesha County Airport, Trump dug in on defending his administration's coronavirus response and quickly launched into attacks on Biden as the crowd chanted, "Lock him up."

He also criticized Biden for saying at last week's presidential debate that the country was headed for a "dark winter" because of the pandemic.

"I thought Sleepy Joe was very dark," he told his biggest crowd of the day at a night-time rally in Waukesha, Wisconsin. "How dark was that? How horrible was that?" he asked.
The president's comments come a day after the United States recorded a staggering 85,000 new coronavirus cases, a new single-day record surpassing the previous record of 75,687 cases set on July 16.

Trump is scheduled to come to West Salem, Wisconsin on Tuesday.

Megan VerHelst, Patch staff, contributed to this report.