A Twitter feud of sorts has broken out between Jenna Ellis, Donald Trump’s legal adviser, and a columnist for The Intercept. It all begins as so many things in the Trump administration begin. With a lie. A lie that’s presented as fact.
During an interview on Fox News, Ellis [1] claimed Trump’s Tulsa, Oklahoma rally wasn’t the huge flop it’s claimed to be. Instead, she asserted that thousands of people were turned away. She also claimed 12,000 people filled seats at the BOK Center, even though the Tulsa Fire Department found [2] that a mere 6,200 people filled the arena’s 19,200 seats.
But as Intercept Columnist Mehdi Hassan, 12K is still a long way from 19,000.
Indeed, there’s been a war of words between the two on Twitter, with Ellis doing a bit of name-calling.
Here’s a snippet of the exchange below:
According to USSS, and I gave you Brad Parscale’s tweet, not just a random picture. There is ample evidence to support this fact, you’re just embarrassed and unwilling to follow through on your big bad public challenge.
You’ve been had. Take the L, activist. https://t.co/MJCwSQuSTK [3]
— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) June 21, 2020 [4]
I asked for footage of “thousands” of people being turned away – your claim! – and you posted a pic of hundreds of people… who ended up getting in.
You can namecall all you like but facts matter, Jenna. (Oh and 12k still isn’t 19k – the venue’s capacity! – but no biggie.) https://t.co/NWen4rP8Vs [5]
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) June 21, 2020 [6]
And Ellis also took to that purveyor of incorrect [7] news, Fox News, to extoll the rally’s “wonderful attendance,” Joe.My.God [8] notes.
“This was a wonderful attendance and we’re so proud of the great American patriots who showed up in the thousands to support the president at his first rally in over three months,” she said. “And listen, the fact is there were so many obstacles to overcome to get to the BOK Center.”
Then discussed the crowds that were turned away.
“So we had over six thousand people plus thousands more outside that were turned away. This was an incredibly strong event.”
That makes absolutely no sense. It’s been widely reported that outside areas were set up, where Trump and Vice President Mike Pence could speak to overflow crowds. Those areas were taken down due to [9] low attendance.
That aside, Ellis also used the interview to take a slap at Joe Biden.
“When Biden gets even 60 to show up to one of his rallies let me know because that will be a red-letter day for him,” she said.
Of course, she fails to note Biden is still clobbering [10] Trump in the polls, meaning that Biden’s rallies could actually do well. That remains to be seen, but here’s her commentary in the clip below.
Jenna claims thousands were turned away from the rally pic.twitter.com/tJ5MWWpNrV [11]
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) June 21, 2020 [12]