Donald Trump to Host Free Rally in Chicago Next Week

The GOP presidential hopeful is expected to speak at a free rally next Friday at the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavilion

Looks like the Donald is coming to the Windy City.

The GOP presidential hopeful will speak at a free rally next Friday at the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavilion, according to his campaign website. 

The event is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. but doors will open at 3 p.m.

Trump has been in Chicago headlines often in the past few weeks after he spoke out against the Ricketts family for making donations against his campaign.

“I hear the Rickets [sic] family, who own the Chicago Cubs, are secretly spending $'s against me. They better be careful, they have a lot to hide,” Trump tweeted last month.

Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts addressed Trump’s comments shortly after, saying “it’s a little surreal when Donald Trump threatens your mom."

His Trump-branded building has also been the source of controversy in the city after it installed 20-foot-tall illuminated letters spelling the real estate mogul's last name at the hotel at 401 N. Wabash Ave.

The Friday event falls on the same night as an Illinois Republican Party fundraiser, which fellow presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz has said he will attend. Other Republican presidential candidates have also been invited. It's not clear if Trump will make an appearance after his rally is over. 

Other presidential candidates have also traveled to Illinois in recent weeks, with Hillary Clinton holding a “get out the vote” rally and fundraiser in the city last month and Bernie Sanders traveling to Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville for a rally Friday.

John Kasich will also hold a Palatine Town Hall Wednesday. 

At the Republican debate in Detroit Thursday, Trump lit up social media while discussing the ongoing joke about the size of his hands.

The presidential front-runner defended his hand size, which was first mocked in a satirical magazine in 1988 and then brought up last week by Sen. Marco Rubio. Trump viewed Rubio's comments as an insult about Trump's sexual prowess and referred to Rubio’s jibe with a crude sexual reference of his own.

Holding his hands up for the audience to see, Trump said: "He referred to my hands – if they're small, something else must be small. I guarantee you, there's no problem. I guarantee you."

Trump, alongside Clinton, seized a decisive victory during Super Tuesday earlier this week, with both winning seven of nearly a dozen states.

Illinois’ presidential primary will be held March 15.

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