A South Carolina children’s choir that was interrupted while singing “The Star Spangled Banner” at the Capitol last month by Capitol Police has been invited by former President Donald Trump to perform at a campaign rally in the Palmetto State.
The Rushingbrook Children’s Choir out of Greenville visited the Capitol on May 26 and performed the first three verses of the national anthem in Statuary Hall when a Capitol Police officer instructed a congressional staffer to inform the choir director to stop the singing. In a Tuesday video message posted to Truth Social, Trump extended an invitation to the children.
“It’s a really, it’s a serious thing to have an event like that — such a beautiful time in your lives and such an important time in your lives — to be interrupted in such a way,” Trump said. “But we are going to have you in South Carolina, and you’re going to sing in a rally for us in front of tens of thousands of people. And we’re all going to have a great time together.”
“We love our country. We’re going to take care of our country, and we’re going to pay respect to those people that love it. And nobody loves it more than you,” the former president added.
????Video: President Trump invites Greenville children’s choir to perform at his next campaign rally in South Carolina after the group's performance of the “Star-Spangled Banner” at U.S. Capitol was halted by police.
pic.twitter.com/Aw1VhExtqg— The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) June 7, 2023
David Rasbach, the choir’s director, called Trump’s invitation an “honor” and said he “wouldn’t even think of turning him down,” according to The Post and Courier.”
Video of the children being interrupted garnered millions of views and prompted outrage from many on social media. The Capitol Police claims the incident stemmed from a “miscommunication.” In an initial statement, police said they allowed the choir to continue the performance after being interrupted, according to The Daily Signal. Micah Rea, the man who organized the trip, disputes the claim that the children were allowed to finish the anthem.
????The Rushingbrook Children’s Choir sang the National Anthem in Statuary Hall. a Capitol Police officer stopped them mid-song. Capitol Police claims they didn’t stop the choir. The choir director tells the whole story in my exclusive interview here. ????https://t.co/ZRNbWy75la pic.twitter.com/ijiq4pw3X8
— Tyler O’Neil (@Tyler2ONeil) June 2, 2023
“Although popup demonstrations and musical performances are not allowed in the U.S. Capitol without the proper approval, due to a miscommunication, the U.S. Capitol Police were not aware that the Speaker’s Office had approved this performance,” a follow-up statement said.
In a joint statement, Speaker McCarthy (R-CA), along with Republican South Carolina Reps. Joe Wilson, Russell Fry, and William Timmons said, “These children were welcomed by the Speaker’s office to joyfully express their love of this Nation while visiting the Capitol, and we are all very disappointed to learn their celebration was cut short.”
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“We are delighted that the People’s House has been reopened particularly for our children and we look forward to welcoming more Americans back to the halls of Congress,” the statement added. Timmons said that the delegation from South Carolina has agreed to cover the costs for the choir to return to the nation’s capital, The Post and Courier reports.
Wilson also said he plans on introducing a bill that would allow the national anthem to be performed on all federal property, telling the outlet, “love for one’s country should be celebrated.”
The choir has also received invitations to perform from various news outlets, including Newsmax and Fox News. An exact date for the South Carolina Trump rally has not yet been announced.
“We’re just gob-smacked,” Rasbach said. “We’re just a little choir of kids from Greenville who nobody knew anything about except Greenvillians who came to our concerts, and even then we never even had full houses. And now we’re performing on national news.”