President Donald Trump is headed to Pennsylvania on Monday night to rally supporters in a state he needs to keep in his pocket in order to win a second term.
Local press in Montoursville and Williamsport, the home of the annual Little League World Series, predicted a crowd of 10,000 people would come for his 58th rally as president. Some stood in line at daybreak.
'A lot of people are outside as you probably know. Many, many people,' Trump told reporters as he left the White House, 'and it's going to be a packed house as it always is.'
'I don't know if you've ever seen a vacant seat for Trump,' he said, 'but I don't think so. We're going to have a good time.'
The president is blitzing into central Pennsylvania as a legal and constitutional storm swirls around his presidency in Washington.
President Donald Trump headed to central Pennsylvania on Monday night for a 'Make America Great Again' rally and predicted a massive crowd
People waited outside in line for hours to get in to the Williamsport Regional Airport before Trump's rally
Trump supporters indulged in a tailgate-like atmosphere, complete with signs deriding the hated 'fake news' press that Trump loves to hate
House Democrats hours earlier won an early round in their legal battle to get Trump's financial records from his longtime accounting firm.
And the Justice Department had thumbed its nose at the president's congressional antagonists, refusing to let former White House Counsel Don McGahn testify on Capitol Hill.
But in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania – Trump Country, U.S.A. – the crowd was warmed up and waiting.
Trump won the county by a 70-25 margin over Hillary Clinton in 2016, one of the most lopsided results in the swing state.
Barack Obama won Pennsylvania in 2012 by 5.4 percentage points over Republican Mitt Romney, now a U.S. senator from Utah.
But Trump cruised to victory in 57 of the state's 67 counties, winning 20 Electoral College votes by a total of barely 54,000 votes – a 0.7 percentage point margin.
Trump's trip also comes on the eve of a special election in Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district, with Republican Fred
