Trump says will still deliver July 4th speech after weather prompted evacuation of National Mall
President Donald Trump said he will still deliver a July Fourth speech after severe weather prompted an evacuation of the Mall earlier on Saturday (July
President Donald Trump said he will still deliver a July Fourth speech after severe weather prompted an evacuation of the Mall earlier on Saturday (July 4, 2026). “I’m not going to let some rain stop our 250th,” Mr. Trump said in a social media post. Event organisers Freedom 250 said Mr. Trump plans to give his speech on the Mall at 11 p.m. followed by fireworks, and gates for the Salute to America event would reopen at 9.45 p.m. Trump's plans to commemorate America's 250th anniversary of independence with a rally on the Mall were complicated on Saturday (July 4, 2026) by severe storms that gathered near Washington, forcing event organisers to order an evacuation. “Freedom 250 will share updates on programming and doors reopening,” Freedom 250 spokesperson Danielle Alvarez said in a statement that encouraged participants to seek shelter at museums and federal buildings near the Mall. Washington's metro system also said several of its underground stations were available for shelter. Severe weather prompted the cancellation of celebrations in Hartford, Connecticut, along with Harrisburg and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Spectators at Boston's fireworks and concert were told to briefly seek shelter before events later resumed. Plans for fireworks were still moving forward in other cities such as New York, where tall ships passed the Statue of Liberty earlier in the day, recalling the fanfare around America's 200th anniversary in 1976. Anticipation for the milestone holiday has been building for much of the year, serving as an opportunity for Americans to reflect on their complicated history as onetime colonists of an empire who became a superpower of their own. Organisers of celebrations months in the making had to adjust or cancel activities entirely as much of the East Coast sweltered under heat that approached and in many cases surpassed triple digits.
Heat is defining the big weekend in many places The disruption was particularly acute in Washington, where signs at the Great American State Fair posted an alert shortly after 7 p.m. ET encouraging participants to leave the area. As the order to evacuate was played over loudspeakers on the Mall, some people appeared to be standing in place, talking with those around them and not exiting the area, while others were walking toward exits. Guard troops told people to leave. The U.S. Secret Service announced it had temporarily closed checkpoints to screen attendees ahead of Trump's speech, which was scheduled to begin around 10 pm ET. Military flyovers, which have become a staple of July Fourth celebrations in Washington recently, were also cancelled for the rest of the day. Crowds were building in the area several hours before Trump's speech. Tina Hale, 58, of Cohoes, New York, watched three of her grandchildren children dip their hands into a pool of water near a museum. Hale pointed toward the sky and urged them to look up as three military jets roared above the crowd. “If that doesn't make you proud to be an American,” she said. David Koshko, 42, and his wife, Jennifer Koskho, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, came to Washington for a baseball game but planned to stay for the city's fireworks show. After baking in the heat for hours during the Pittsburgh Pirates' win over the Washington Nationals, they took a break in the shade of an overpass near the Mall to plot their next stop. “Just to be a part of the 250 years (anniversary) is an amazing thing,” said David Koshko, a commercial driver and veteran of the Marine Corps reserves.
The BriefWire