Trump claims there are ‘no empty seats’ at Republican convention in arena with numerous empty seats

Por Josh Marcus — – World RSS Feed

The president is known to exaggerate the crowd size at his events

Josh Marcus in San Francisco Friday 11 September 2026 04:34 BST

Bookmark
Comments Go to comments

Bookmark popover

Removed from bookmarks

Close popover

Trump claims no empty seats at partially-empty GOP convention in Texas

Your support helps us to tell the story

Read more Support Now

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference. Read more

President Donald Trump returned on Thursday to his familiar focus on crowd size, falsely claiming there were “no empty seats” in the crowd at the Republican Party’s midterm convention in Texas, even though news photographers captured a largely empty upper section inside the roughly 19,000-seat American Airlines Center.

“Everybody said if you have a midterm convention, it’s going to be a disaster,” the president told the crowd on Thursday in his closing speech. “No, but look at that, the highest rafter, no empty seats.”

“Every box is loaded up,” Trump added. “Every box, every corner.”

The president accused the “fake news” media of focusing on his crowd size, alleging journalists comb the crowd waiting for attendees to use the bathroom so they can take photos that claim empty audiences at Trump events.

Footage from earlier Thursday captured a similar turnout for Vice President JD Vance, who spoke to a mostly full arena, but for the upper section.

President Trump falsely claimed on Thursday there were no empty seats at the Republican midterm convention in Texas, even though numerous empty seats could be seen in the upper section of the American Airlines Center. ( AFP/Getty )

Vance’s speech was less focused on the crowd size, though the vice president sharply criticized a protester who interrupted him while waving a Mexican flag.

“What the people at home missed is that we just had a protester interrupting us and waving the Mexican flag,” Vance said in response. “Well, my friend, if you love Mexico so much, get your a** over there. I’ll buy you the plane ticket.”

President Trump has long made exaggerated claims about the crowds at his events and rallies.

Over the summer, he alleged his speech at the Great American State Fair was “packed to the brim” with 45,000 attendees, despite photographs from the event undermining the claim.

During the 2024 campaign, he claimed photos of a Kamala Harris-Tim Walz rally were “fake” and artificial intelligence-generated.

Elsewhere, the Republican has falsely suggested his January 6, 2021, rally was larger than Martin Luther King’s 1963 March on Washington.

Most famously, the first Trump administration repeatedly and falsely claimed the president’s inauguration had the largest-ever crowd, in spite of photos showing a much larger crowd for the inauguration of Trump rival President Barack Obama.