BREAKING NEWS: Donald Trump postpones planned New Hampshire rally this weekend 'for a week or two' with White House blaming Tropical Storm Fay for decision - but there's just a 10 per cent chance of rain

  • President Donald Trump's campaign rally in New Hampshire on Saturday night has been canceled 
  • White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany the rally in Portsmouth will have to be delayed by a 'week or two' because a 'big storm' was coming
  • Tropical Storm Fay is headed to the East Coast
  • Forecast for Portsmouth is 60 per cent rain and it's 10 per cent at rally start time

President Donald Trump's campaign rally in New Hampshire on Saturday night has been canceled due to Tropical Storm Fay.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters traveling on Air Force One with the president to Florida the rally in Portsmouth will have to be delayed by a 'week or two' because a 'big storm' was coming. 

The forecast for Portsmouth says there is a 60 per cent chance for a storm on Saturday with a 10 per cent chance of rain at the rally's 8 pm start time. 

'With Tropical Storm Fay heading towards the Great State of New Hampshire this weekend, we are forced to reschedule our Portsmouth, New Hampshire Rally at the Portsmouth International Airport at Pease. Stay safe, we will be there soon! #MAGA2020,' the president tweeted. 

The rally was scheduled to be held outside at the airport in Portsmouth, which sits on the New Hampshire coast.  Trump supporters have been known to camp out overnight ahead of his events. 

President Donald Trump's campaign rally in New Hampshire on Saturday night has been canceled

President Donald Trump's campaign rally in New Hampshire on Saturday night has been canceled

President Donald Trump's campaign blamed the rally delay on Tropical Storm Fay, which will make landfall on the East Coast this weekend

President Donald Trump's campaign blamed the rally delay on Tropical Storm Fay, which will make landfall on the East Coast this weekend

Fay is expected to make landfall this weekend - hitting the New Jersey shoreline - but it will send storms up and down the East Coast.

There is a risk of flash flooding from coastal Maryland to southern New England. 

Showers and thunderstorms also are expected Friday night into Saturday in northern New England, including around the area where Trump was supposed to hold his rally.

Joe Biden's campaign sent off a snarky tweet in response to the rally's cancellation.

'The storm is coming, and his name is @JoeBiden,' TJ Ducklo, a spokesman for the Biden campaign, tweeted. 

Trump's rally in Portsmouth was scheduled after the president's disastrous rally in Tulsa at the end of June. That event was billed as a massive return to the political stage but instead produced empty seats and questions about the campaign´s ability to attract people to large events in a pandemic. 

It's unclear how many people were going attend the New Hampshire rally and the the campaign implemented extra safety measures so attendees would feel safe.

Unlike the one in Tulsa, which was held indoors, the rally in Portsmouth was scheduled to be outdoors - in an airplane hangar open on one side with the crowd spilling out onto the tarmac before Air Force One.

'All of Donald Trump´s rallies and all of his events are electric,' said campaign spokesperson Hogan Gidley told the Associated Press. 'The president wants to go in there and talk about all the accomplishments he´s done in his first term and how he's made people´s lives better.'

The campaign also planned to distribute masks - and encouraged people to wear them, which was a marked changed from the Tulsa event. Eight advance staffers at the Tulsa rally tested positive for the coronavirus and most of the campaign staff self-isolated after the event.

Expectations were tempered for the Portsmouth rally. Unlike the Tulsa event - where Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale bragged a million tickets had been distributed - the campaign was mum about a crowd count. 

New Hampshire has had a relatively low number of COVID-19 cases, while those in Oklahoma were rising before Trump arrived. Oklahoma health officials said the rally and accompanying protests 'likely contributed' to a surge in infections in the city. Several campaign staffers and Secret Service agents tested positive for the virus.

This GOES-16 satellite image taken on Friday shows Tropical Storm Fay as it moves closer to land in the northeast of the United States

This GOES-16 satellite image taken on Friday shows Tropical Storm Fay as it moves closer to land in the northeast of the United States

President Trump's June 20 rally in Tulsa had smaller than expected attendance

President Trump's June 20 rally in Tulsa had smaller than expected attendance

Despite the risks, the Trump campaign believes it needs to return to the road, both to animate the president, who draws energy from his crowds, and to inject life into a campaign that's facing a strong challenge from Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

New Hampshire is a battle ground state in the 2020 election but campaigning remains a cautious process.

The Republican governor of New Hampshire had said he won't attend the rally because of the combination of crowds and danger of exposure to the coronavirus.

But Gov. Chris Sununu had said he would greet the president upon his arrival in the state.

'As the governor, I am always going to be there to greet the president and I will be there to do that,' he said during a press briefing on Tuesday.

But, he noted: 'I will not be in the crowd of thousands of people.'