SCRANTON, Pa. — A ticket to President Trump's scheduled town hall in Scranton is proving to be a tough ticket to get. Free tickets were made available Friday morning and were all gone by Sunday.
Some of Lackawanna County's most ardent Trump supporters were disappointed to learn that they won't be getting in.
Retired Lt. Col. Joseph Albert received an email and a phone call Friday that he admits he first thought was a scam.
Someone from the Fox News Channel asked if he could round up some people to attend a televised presidential town hall on Thursday at the Scranton Cultural Center.
"They said, 'would you help us get some people to attend?' I said I would be happy to, so I started composing a list of people and inviting them," Albert said.
Albert is an ardent Trump supporter. He called friends from his American Legion post in Scranton, fellow veterans, and community leaders who were interested in the opportunity to see a sitting president.
Then Albert went on a website called Eventbrite to collect the free tickets, but there were none left.
"I'm putting my list together to call them and say, 'Sorry, we don't have any room now. there's no tickets.' I don't have a ticket; I'm not going."
Newswatch 16 had a hard time finding folks who were able to get a ticket to the event with President Trump.
A Fox News official says they reached out to bipartisan community groups ahead of town halls to garner some interest, but in an email exchange between Albert and a Fox News employee, the employee admits even Fox News was surprised how quickly tickets for this town hall went.
Albert admits he's disappointed but is sure this won't be the last time President Trump visits our area before November.
"You're going to see the president back here as well as the Democratic nominee. But they'll be for political rallies, not a supposed nonpartisan public interest event such as a town hall meeting," Albert said.
Fox News couldn't tell us how many tickets were given out for Thursday's event, but capacity for the main theatre at the Scranton Cultural Center is about 1,800.