'I made Juneteenth very famous!' Donald Trump claims that 'nobody knew what it was' before storm over his plan for rally on commemoration of end of slavery

Donald Trump bragged in a Wednesday interview that originally scheduling his first post-coronavirus rally on June 19 was a good thing because he claims now people know about the Civil Rights holiday Juneteenth.

'I did something good: I made Juneteenth very famous,' Trump told the Wall Street Journal during an Oval Office interview published Wednesday. 

'It's actually an important event, an important time. But nobody had ever heard of it. Very few people have heard of it,' the president claimed referring to negative news coverage he received after announcing the rally date.

Trump told those interviewing him that he has black supporters and 'two African-American friends' that caused him to schedule the rally on Juneteenth 'out of respect' for those individuals.

During an event earlier this month, where he was surrounded by black supporters, the president revealed his first rally since March 2 would be held in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Friday, June 19.

He decided, however, to delay it by one day to June 20 after civil rights activists complained that it coincided with the date of Juneteenth and also happened to fall in the midst of massive nationwide protests over law enforcements' treatment of black communities.

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Donald Trump claimed in an interview that he was the one who 'made Juneteenth famous' by originally scheduling his campaign rally on the same date as the Civil Rights holiday

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The president scheduled his first post-coronavirus rally on Juneteenth, sparking outrage from civil rights activists. He claimed that 'nobody had ever heard of it' before that

Juneteenth commemorates the date in 1865 when the last slaves were informed of their freedom thanks to the Emancipation Proclamation.

The location of the rally is also significant o black American history.

In 1921, a mob of white residents in Tulsa attacked and killed black community members and destroyed, looted and burned to the ground a thriving black business district known as Black Wall Street.

Trump initially insisted that he did not intentionally schedule the rally for the same date, but later claimed the massive event should be considered a 'celebration' of Juneteenth.

He also told the Journal that after finding out his campaign rally date was controversial, it was a black Secret Service agent that alerted him to the meaning of the holiday to the black community.

'Actually, a young African-American Secret Service agent knew what it was,' Trump said. 'I had political people who had no idea.' 

Republican Oklahoma Senator James Lankford said he advised the president to change the date from the day of Juneteeth, but still keep it on a date near the holiday.

The president insisted during his interview with WSJ that he polled people that surround him daily and found that none of them had heard of Juneteenth.

When he was informed that his White House put out a statement in each of his first three years in office to commemorate the holiday, Trump was pleasantly surprised.

'Oh really? We put out a statement? The Trump White House put out a statement?' Trump queried. 'Ok, ok. Good.'

He added: 'I don't think it was put up by others.'

A quick search, however, reveals that past presidents, including his two most recent predecessors Barack Obama and Geroge W. Bush, did issue presidential messages to commemorate Juneteenth during their tenure.

Obama also revealed on June 19, 2019 that while he was president, he kept a painting of a crowd of slaves waiting for the moment they would be freed outside of the Oval Office.

'Outside the Oval Office, I kept a painting of a small crowd huddled around a pocketwatch, waiting for the moment the Emancipation Proclamation took effect,' Obama tweeted last year. 'On Juneteenth, we celebrate the anniversary of that news - freedom - reaching slaves in Texas.'

'And something more: On Juneteenth, we celebrate our capacity to make real the promise of our founding, that thing inside each of us that says America is not yet finished, that compels all of us to fight for justice and equality until this country we love more closely aligns with our highest ideals,' he continued. 

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Juneteenth commemorates the date in 1865 when the last slaves were informed that they were free thanks to the Emancipation Proclamation 

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Trump's White House put out a statement the first three years of his presidency to commemorate Juneteenth – which is officially recognized as a holiday by 57 states

Trump said it was his administration, however, that 'made people aware' of the holiday.

'We made people aware of it, and it's good,' Trump told the Journal of the controversy surrounding his rally date. 'But they asked me, you know, and these are two really good supporters, African-American supporters that they believe in what we're saying'

'You know, we have a lot of black support, tremendous black support,' the president boasted. 

Trump's rally is being held at the Bank of Oklahoma Center in Tulsa on Saturday where he is expecting to make a grand comeback to the re-election campaign trail after being sidelined to Washington, D.C. in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

The arena has more than 19,000 seats and the president has claimed that around 1 million people have requested tickets for the massive event where he will be surrounded by his most loyalist base.

The campaign announced it would be taking temperatures before people are able to enter the arena and would hand out masks and hand sanitizers to attendees.

No mention was made of any sort of social distances or if the campaign will require that attendees actually wear the masks.

Health officials have warned that an indoor event of this magnitude could be a danger to those at the rally and the president himself – and could spark another wave of the virus in Tulsa and surrounding Oklahoma cities that have largely been spared of the pandemic.