Trump boasts of massive crowd despite weather disruptions during America 250 celebration

WASHINGTON, DC: Heat, storms, and delays failed to dampen Donald Trump's mood, as the president touted drawing a massive crowd at the "Salute to America" celebration on the National Mall.

The 80-year-old commander in chief claimed that more than 375,000 people attended the America 250 celebration before his speech, adding that around 150,000 remained despite delays caused by the weather.

Trump calls the crowd at his American 250 ‘craziest thing ever seen’

The plans to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary of independence with a massive event at the National Mall were complicated on Saturday by severe storms that gathered near Washington, forcing event organizers to order an evacuation.

Thousands of attendees were escorted out of the event, with the Secret Service declaring the closure of security checkpoints.

However, the scorching triple-digit heat did little to deter President Trump, who assured attendees that he would give his July 4 remarks tonight "no matter what".

After several weather-related delays, Trump began his speech by thanking attendees for remaining at the event.

“If you think that was easy, it wasn't," the president said, "I want to thank everybody, because they did the right thing. They saw lightning, and I said, 'There's no way. If we have to speak in front of one person at 4 o'clock in the morning, I'm going to be there. There's no way we can be deterred.’”

Trump then went on to tout to the crowd, saying, "There is no way we could be deterred. They estimated they had 375,000 people before everybody had to leave, and they now have 150,000 people. It's the craziest thing anyone's ever seen.”

Trump’s 40-minute speech honoring America's semiquincentennial was followed by 850,000 fireworks being launched into the sky from 10 sites around Washington, DC, including the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Potomac River barges, and West Potomac Park.

Trump pushes to pass SAVE America Act

Fresh off a series of major setbacks at the Supreme Court, Trump renewed his push to pass legislation requiring voter ID at the polls, which he said is necessary to keep America great.

"All voters must provide a little thing called proof of citizenship, and there will be no mail-in ballots, except for illness, disability, military deployment or travel, and you won’t have cheating on the elections anymore," he said to some cheers from the crowd. "It’s very simple."

Republicans in the Senate do not have enough votes to either pass the so-called SAVE America Act or kill the chamber’s rule requiring 60 senators to overcome a filibuster.

Trump issued a similar plea during his address just a day before, with Mount Rushmore as the backdrop. “We can only lose the midterms if we allow ourselves to lose the midterms, if we are foolish, stupid, and unwise,” Trump said.

“But if we terminate the filibuster as we should do, and immediately vote for the Save America Act, then we will not lose an election for 100 years,” he continued, and attacked Democrats as 'The Communist Party,' saying they are made up of illegal immigrants, criminals “and everybody that doesn’t want to work.”