Trump Leaves Supporters Stranded in Cold — Again — After Georgia Rally
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Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Rome, Georgia, on November 1
Donald Trump supporters in Georgia were left waiting for hours in the cold after his rally on Sunday for at least the third time in two weeks.
Attendees at Trump's rally in Rome, Georgia, on Sunday were bused to the event on shuttles after parking their cars in lots a distance away, but when it came time to be driven back to their cars, those shuttles were reportedly nowhere to be found.
NBC News reporter Julie Tsirkin shared footage of rally attendees waiting in the dark on Sunday night, which saw temperatures in the 40s.
Tsirkin reported that it was a "chaotic" scene, and that some of the people left waiting were elderly and disabled.
On Saturday, attendees at another Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, were similarly stranded. CNN reporter DJ Judd shared photos of people crammed together in the 41-degree dark "with no sign of the shuttles they’ve been told will take them back to parking."
Hours after the President departed for Florida, this was the scene in Georgia as people were left for hours waiting for buses to take them to their cars: pic.twitter.com/rx34hXSR2U
— Julie Tsirkin (@JulieNBCNews) November 2, 2020
RELATED: 7 Hospitalized After Trump Rally When Many Supporters Were Stuck in the Cold Trying to Get Home
Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said that reports of long waits to return to the parking lots were "fake news."
"After the rally in Butler, PA @CNN tossed a #FakeNews bomb about the crowd & shuttle buses," Murtaugh tweeted Saturday. "We had 47 buses, heating tents & hand warmers for those waiting. Buses ran smoothly, all 15K attendees were cleared in <2 hours. Folks at the outdoor rally had a blast & left safely."
In another tweet, Murtaugh shared a photo of what appeared to be hundreds of people waiting to board a bus.
Trump has finished and left, but there’s thousands of supporters who have been let loose into the night with no sign of the shuttles they’ve been told will take them back to parking. People are filling the street, blocking the road for ambulances and police. pic.twitter.com/uMgfvUZ4Jg
— DJ Judd (@DJJudd) October 31, 2020
The tweet below from @DJJudd is fake news.
We have 47 buses taking supporters back to parking. The line is moving and there are heating tents set up.
Security and staff are helping people.
But those facts wouldn’t get DJ any retweets.
This picture was just taken⤵️ https://t.co/GpIJ9EOrIa pic.twitter.com/ofBeLRGia3— Tim Murtaugh (@TimMurtaugh) November 1, 2020
In a statement to PEOPLE on Monday, Murtaugh said that supporters experienced the "normal course of events" and were taken back to their cars in less than two hours.
"We had 60 buses running constantly after the rally, with heated tents and hand warmers for people while they waited," he said. "Tens of thousands of people waited enthusiastically to see President Trump for as long as 6 hours before the rally, then enjoyed the outdoor event before being shuttled back to their cars. Every person was cleared safely from the event less than two hours after it was over. This is the normal course of events and people are thrilled for the chance to hear from the President."
RELATED: Biden Campaign Says Trump Supporters Tried to Run Their Bus Off the Road, Causing Staff to Call 911
Multiple people ended up in the hospital after a Trump rally in Omaha, Nebraska, last week, after which attendees waited as long as three hours or walked more than two miles back to their cars, PEOPLE previously reported.
The night reached freezing temperatures, and Omaha police said that "there were 30 people contacted for medical reasons and a total of 7 people transported to area hospitals with a variety of medical conditions."
Trump's rallies have gathered thousands of people — most times not wearing masks — during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, despite health experts' urging the public to avoid crowds and to practice social distancing.
Evan Vucci/AP/Shutterstock Supporters at Donald Trump's rally in Omaha, Nebraska
The dismissal of experts' advice has cost communities where the rallies were held a "high price in terms of disease and death," said the authors of a Standford University study that found that more than 700 people died as a result of 18 Trump rallies held this summer, Politico reported.
The study found that the rallies may have caused 30,000 cases of the contagious respiratory virus, according to the outlet.
"As the President has said, the cure cannot be worse than the disease and this country should be open armed with best practices and freedom of choice to limit the spread of Covid-19," White House spokesperson Judd Deere said in a statement regarding the study, per Politico.
Joe Biden's campaign has used the study as an example of Trump's inability to take the pandemic seriously.
"He's even costing hundreds of lives and sparking thousands of cases with super spreader rallies that only serve his own ego," said Andrew Gates, a spokesperson for Biden, in a statement to Politico.
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