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Within hours of their performance at a Donald Trump rally in Pensacola, Fla. Last January, the U.S.A. Freedom Kids were a sensation.
You remember the video: Three pre-teen girls in star-spangled outfits crisply working through simple choreography as they lip-synced an upbeat update to "Over There."
USA Freedom Kids sing Trump-themed song at Florida rally
A trio of young singers performed a song dedicated to Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Jan. 13 at a rally in Pensacola, Fla. (Reuters)
That infectious performance kicked off a flurry of media appearances. The Freedom Kids told "Inside Edition" that Trump told them that he planned tolisten to their CD all night. The group, which had been around for about two-and-a-half-years by that point, was a viral sensation largely inextricable from Trump himself.
Now, though, the relationship is different. Jeff Popick, father of the smallest Freedom Kid and author of "Freedom's Call" (the song performed at the Trump rally), told The Post by phone on Monday that he planned to file a lawsuit against the campaign for violating its agreement with the group.
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Popick, believing that he was owed some alternate compensation, tried to contact the campaign afterward, without luck. In addition to costs spent on promotional materials for the non-existent table, Popick says, he also lost several promotional opportunities due to confusion over his relationship with the campaign.
When Trump made the sudden decision to skip the January Fox News debate and instead hold an event for veterans, a representative of the campaign called Popick to see if the Freedom Kids might perform. The call came the day before the event, Popick says, which was being held in Des Moines at 6:30 p.m. With the promise that the exposure from the event would be "huge," Popick readily agreed, and the kids and their parents packed up for a direct flight to Chicago and a long drive to Iowa.
It wasn't to be. When the plane landed, Popick had a message from the campaign staffer indicating that there was a change of plan. The campaign invited the performers to attend the rally, which they did, in their outfits. The campaign asked Popick not to talk to the media, he says, but then gave them seats within arm's length of the press. "They just were constantly coming over, wanting pictures," Popick said of the press. "They wanted to take pictures, they wanted to ask questions -- and I had to be a real jerk." The cost of the flights, rental car and hotel were all absorbed by Popick.
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