A video of a CNN reporter discussing former President Donald Trump‘s “pretty empty” Detroit rally on Friday has taken off online.
With less than three weeks until Election Day, Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have been fiercely hitting the swing states that will decide the election, including Michigan.
On Friday night, CNN reporter Alayna Treene appeared on Erin Burnett OutFront, speaking from the Detroit rally about 40 minutes before the former president took the stage.
“We’re in this pretty large venue. You can’t really tell, Erin, from where you are. Right behind me, you can see the crowd. But behind the camera where I’m speaking toward, it’s actually pretty empty. They have not been able to fill this,” Treene said.
The Trump campaign’s communications director, Steven Cheung, told Newsweek on Saturday morning, “The venue was filled to maximum capacity as possible under the regulations set forth. The crowd was high energy and roared as President Trump delivered his speech.”
A clip of Treene’s reporting was shared on X (formerly Twitter) Friday night by a senior digital editor for the liberal news site MeidasTouch, who goes by Acyn. The clip has received 841,100 views so far.
The MeidasTouch X account reposted the clip and wrote: “CNN reports Trump is UNABLE to fill his Detroit rally.”
Former Illinois congressman Adam Kinzinger, a Republican and frequent Trump critic, laughed at the clip, writing on X, “Haha…times a million infinities.”
“This is BRUTAL for Trump. A CNN reporter at Trump’s rally in Detroit just confirmed that the venue is EMPTY,” tweeted YouTuber and political commentator Harry Sisson, a Democrat.
Kamala’s Wins, an X account supporting Harris, tweeted, “CNN just released stunning new reporting that Donald Trump’s rally is empty tonight. Holy cow.”
Former President Donald Trump takes the state at a campaign rally in Detroit on Friday. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are relentlessly hitting the swing states that will decide the election, including Michigan.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
Rally crowd sizes have become a talking point during the election. Harris’ campaign has repeatedly mocked Trump’s rally crowd sizes while boasting about the high number of attendees at the vice president’s events.
Meanwhile, Trump has maintained that he gets more attendees at his rallies. At one point, he said Harris used artificial intelligence (AI) in a photo to bolster her crowd size at a Detroit rally.
Referencing a photo taken at that rally, Trump wrote on social media in August, “Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport? There was nobody at the plane, and she ‘A.I.’d’ it, and showed a massive ‘crowd’ of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN’T EXIST!”
The former president also said the large crowd at Harris’ rally was “fake,” adding, “She should be disqualified because the creation of a fake image is ELECTION INTERFERENCE. Anyone who does that will cheat at ANYTHING!”
A Harris campaign official told Newsweek at the time, “I can confirm that the photo was taken by Harris campaign staff and not modified by AI in any way.”
How Are the Candidates Doing in Michigan?
Harris and Trump are running neck and neck in Michigan. The vice president has a slight lead of less than a percentage point, with 47.6 percent compared with Trump’s 47.1 percent, according to poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight’s polling averages for the state.
How Are the Candidates Doing Nationally?
Harris’ lead over Trump has grown on the national stage, according to some polling. She is 2.1 points ahead of the former president in the national polls (48.4 to 46.3 percent), FiveThirtyEight says.
