Donald Trump Venue-Busting Ticket Distribution Worries Vermont Officials

Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump cheer as Trump gets ready to
AP Photo/Jim Cole
Caroline May

The Donald Trump campaign has distributed so many tickets for a Thursday evening rally in Burlington, Vermont that police in the area are expressing concerns that the venue is too small and could present a safety hazard.

According to the Burlington Free Press, while the Trump campaign has distributed 20,000 tickets for the event, the venue — the Flynn Center — can seat just 1,400.

“If Phish was holding a free concert at the Flynn and gave away 20,000 free tickets, we would cancel the event out of public safety concerns,” Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo told the paper. “We are committed to accommodating the campaign because political speech is the very essence of the First Amendment.”

The Flynn Center’s executive director John Killacky said the event would be open-seating and offered on a first-come first-serve basis.

“We’ve been working with the Secret Service very carefully along with the Burlington Police Department,” Killacky told the paper.

The Republican frontrunner has been holding venue-busting rallies across the country as he makes his case to be the party’s nominee.

Trump’s rally Thursday in the solidly-blue Vermont is slated for 7pm and, as NBC News notes, will occur across the street from Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ campaign headquarters. The Hill reports that some Sanders’ supporters have schemed on Facebook to reserve tickets but then not show up.

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