We recently reported that College Republicans were denied entry to Obama’s speech. The Secret Service told the College Republicans they were turned away because the crowd was at full capacity, a claim the College Republicans reject.

Sterling Beard of National Review reports.

Mo. College Republicans Treasurer Says Obama Speech Not at Capacity, Contra Secret Service

Despite the official Secret Service explanation, Courtney Scott, Treasurer of the Missouri College Republicans, told National Review that she’s skeptical she and a small group of College Republican were turned away from President Obama’s speech Wednesday at the University of Central Missouri because the event had reached capacity.

“So far I can tell, they were not at capacity if there were people leaving and people with tickets who didn’t even get in. I find it very difficult to believe the whole place was already full,” Scott said.

After protesting on the other side of campus in a designated “public speech zone,” she and a group of five other College Republicans traveled across campus, without their protest signs, to watch the speech.

At about 3:40 p.m., an individual, whom Scott believes to have been a police officer because of his clothing, which included a hat emblazoned with the letters “PD,” stopped the group short of the gymnasium where Obama was scheduled to speak. He told them that they would not be able to proceed further. The group showed him their tickets, but the man said the doors had already closed and that they could not be let in.

The tickets stated that the doors opened at 1:45 p.m. and did not state when the doors were scheduled to close. President Obama was scheduled to begin speaking at 4:00. However, Scott said that Air Force One did not arrive at Whiteman Air Force Base, which is located 15 minutes away, until 4:15. President Obama did not begin speaking until around 5:00.

According to Scott, the security officer said the lack of a stated door-closing time on the tickets was also a security measure.

After speaking with the officer, Scott said, “They made us leave the entire area.”

Scott said the group watched the speech in the overflow capacity viewing room.

According to Scott, the event was supposed to be able to hold 2,500 people and only 2,500 tickets were given out. The fact that the group had several extra tickets (ten College Republicans had originally hoped to make the speech, but four cancelled) “kind of implies there was room,” she said. In addition, Scott spoke to a gentleman in the viewing room who had gained access to the event but had left because of the heat and the wait.