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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Josh Marcus

11 Trump backers taken to hospital after falling ill in extreme heat waiting for Arizona rally to start

AFP via Getty Images

Nearly a dozen people were hospitalized with heat exhaustion while they waited to enter a Donald Trump town hall event in Arizona, according to local officials.

Eleven people were taken to area hospitals as they gathered outside of the Dream City Church in north Phoenix, Phoenix Fire told ABC 15.

The crowds were there to see Trump as he held his first major event since the guilty verdict in his New York hush money trial late last month.

Temperatures ahead of the event reached 110° on Thursday for the first time in the region this year.

During his remarks, Trump did not mention any of his supporters who were hospitalized, though he did joke that a large crowd outside the venue hadn’t been able to get in to see him speak.

Elsewhere, the former president bashed the Biden administration’s climate policies and other attempts to battle the climate crisis, which is exacerbating the risk of extreme heat deaths in states like Arizona.

In a question-and-answer portion of the event, Trump branded Green New Deal-style proposals as a “green new scam,” and accused Joe Biden without evidence of being in on some kind of conspiracy with the makers of electric cars and renewable energy infrastructure like windmills and solar panels.

“There’s something going on,” Trump suggested, accusing Biden of trying to benefit “his friends who make all this crap.”

Trump said he did like Elon Musk, who he said does an “incredible job” with Tesla, but claimed he told the billionaire of his cars that, “They don’t go far.”

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