Donald Trump’s Campaign Forcing Attendees to Sign Coronavirus Waiver Before Attending Tulsa Rally

If you attend President Donald Trump’s campaign rally at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma next week and contract the coronavirus, you will not be able to sue him. The president’s re-election campaign added a disclaimer to its website, telling people who register for the June 19 rally they are “voluntarily” assuming the risk of going during the pandemic. The rally will be Trump’s first since March and comes amid growing protests against police brutality and institutional racism in all 50 states.

The campaign set up a registration page for the “Make America Great Again!” rally. Once you click register, “you are acknowledging that an inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present,” the waiver reads. “By attending the Rally, you and any guests voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19 and agree not to hold Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.; BOK Center; ASM Global; or any of their affiliates, directors, officers, employees, agents, contractors, or volunteers liable for any illness or injury.”

Trump officially announced the Tulsa rally on Thursday. The president also plans to make stops in Florida, Texas, Arizona and North Carolina, all states that have seen an increase in hospitalizations in recent days as restrictions on businesses and large gatherings are lifted, reports The Washington Post. On Thursday, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. eclipsed 2 million and over 113,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Trump was also criticized for choosing Tulsa as the location for his first rally in months and June 19 for the event. The date is Juneteenth, the celebration marking the official end of slavery in the U.S., as June 19, 1865 was the day the Emancipation Proclamation was read in Texas, the last Confederate state where it was announced. In addition, the rally will be held days after the 99th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre, widely considered the worst incident of racial violence in American history. The massacre began after Dick Rowald, a 19-year-old black shoeshiner, was accused of assaulting Sarah Page, a 19-year-old white woman. The exact number of deaths remains unknown, but it is estimated that as many as 300 people died.

On Thursday, Trump said he was “finalizing” executive order on policing. The order “will encourage police departments nationwide to meet the most current professional standards for the use of force, including tactics for de-escalation,” the president said at a meeting with law enforcement officials, faith leaders and business owners in Dallas. Trump also said he would not consider defunding police, adding, “If anything, we’re going the other route. We’re going to make sure that our police are well-trained, perfectly trained, they have the best equipment.”