Trump campaign's Tulsa rally clears legal challenge, curfew ordeal ahead of Saturday

President Trump's first major rally since the coronavirus outbreak cleared two obstacles Friday when the Oklahoma Supreme Court allowed the Tulsa event to proceed and a curfew in the city was lifted. 

The court ruled against a suit filed by residents and others that tried to force rally-goers to wear protective masks and stay at least six feet apart from one another – saying the plaintiffs had no clear legal standing for the relief sought.

The reelection campaign has said that rally-goers will receive masks and hand sanitizer for the Saturday night event but reportedly will not enforce the six-feet rule.

The court ruling came at about the same time Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum apparently backed off an executive order in which he imposed a 10 p.m. curfew Friday and Saturday.

Trump tweeted Friday afternoon that Bynum lifted the curfew.

Bynum in issuing the order Thursday said law enforcement told him that "individuals from organized groups who have been involved in destructive and violent behavior in other states are planning to travel to the City of Tulsa for purposes of causing unrest in and around the rally.”

As many as 100,000 people are projected to attend the event at the 19,200-seat BOK Center that could also include big screen TVs outside the venue showing the indoor rally. The 2020 reelection campaign says one million people requested tickets online. 

Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany declined Friday to say whether Trump and others will wear a mask at the event, saying, "It's a personal choice, I won't be wearing a mask." 

She also accused CNN and other news outlets of what she considers a double standard in the coverage of the event, compared to their coverage of the recent nationwide protests, in which scores of people marched shoulder to shoulder without wearing masks.

"You celebrate hugging in the context of a protest, but at a Trump rally ... that's not allowed because it doesn't fit the ideological agenda of CNN," McEnany said.