Donald Trump will hold a rally in Wilkes-Barre on Saturday
PHILADELPHIA — Former President Donald Trump will return to Pennsylvania Saturday for a campaign rally in Wilkes-Barre in Luzerne County, marking his second time in the Keystone State since surviving an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler County last month.
Trump’s Wilkes-Barre rally is slated to take place at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, with doors set to open at noon Saturday. Trump is scheduled to speak at the rally around 4 p.m., his campaign announced Monday.
The announcement comes after Trump commented last week that he planned to keep his campaign schedule sparse in the days leading up to the Democratic National Convention, which is slated to run Aug. 19-22 in Chicago. Trump has held a limited number of campaign rallies since the Republican National Convention concluded on July 18, and has faced criticism over his number of public appearances since then.
When asked about his lack of campaign rallies during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago last week, Trump reacted combatively, calling the inquiry “a stupid question.”
“I’m campaigning a lot,” he added, pointing to media appearances and campaign commercials as examples of his camp’s efforts in the election.
“President Trump has a robust travel schedule — consisting of rallies, messaging events, and fundraisers in the next week. He has held more campaign events than (Harris) and Walz combined,” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung told CNBC last week.
Last week, Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign toured through a number of battleground states around the country, kicking the effort off with a stop at Temple University’s Liacouras Center, during which she made her first public appearance with her newly minted running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Trump’s VP pick, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, meanwhile, appeared at the 2300 Arena in South Philadelphia the same day, and later followed the Harris-Walz ticket on their tour to hold events in similar locations.
Trump last appeared in Pennsylvania on July 31, holding a campaign rally at the New Holland Arena in Harrisburg. That event came just weeks after the assassination attempt in Butler, during which Corey Comperatore, a former Buffalo Township fire chief, was killed and two other men were wounded. Trump was grazed in the ear by a bullet fired by Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park.
Ahead of the Harrisburg rally, Trump indicated in a post on Truth Social that he intends to return to Butler County for another rally, honoring Comperatore and the two others injured in the shooting. His campaign has not yet announced further details regarding a return to Butler, though Trump himself said in a social media post the return was coming.