Donald Trump renewed his complaints on Monday about fire marshals limiting the size of his rally crowds, telling reporters in Columbus, Ohio that thousands of fans were kept out of the city's convention center 'purely for political reasons.'

The local fire marshal disagreed, telling reporters that the event was always to be limited to 1,000 audience members – something he insisted Trump's own staff knew ahead of time.

'We've had thousands of people outside. Thousands,' Trump told pool reporters as he entered the Greater Columbus Convention Center.

'They were turned away by – for political reasons – purely for political reasons.'

SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO

FURIOUS: Donald Trump blasted a fire marshal in Columbus, Ohio on Monday after his crowd size was limited 'purely for political reasons'

WIDE OPEN SPACES: The cavernous exhibit hall Trump's campaign rented inside the Greater Columbus Convention Center had large empty spaces when people outside were turned away

ONLY HALF: A blue curtain cut the hall in half, leaving room for thousands more Trump fans inside

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Crowds stood in line for hours, only to be told they couldn't enter

'They said in this massive building you're not allowed to have any more than a thousand people. And that's nonsense,' Trump vented.

'We could've had four, five, six thousand people. They’ve all been turned away.'

'It's a disgrace,' he added.

'Look at the size of this place!' he said as he began his town hall meeting.

'Is the mayor a Democrat? Is he a Democrat over here? That's what I heard. He ought to be ashamed of himself.'

Columbus Division of Fire Battalion Chief Stave Martin, the agency's public information officer, said in a statement that cutting the crowd off at 1,000 people 'was the plan all along.'

'We feel disappointed that Mr. Trump wasn't aware of how that number was reached and that it was agreed to by his own people,' Martin added.

But the exhibit hall allocated to Trump's town hall event inside the convention center included large empty spaces. And a curtain dividing the room left half of it completely unused.

NOT AMUSED: Trump blasted the Columbus City fire marshal and asked if the mayor is a Democrat while he showed off a picture of a largely empty room that he said was a recent crowd in the same city

ROOM TO ROAM: Even with the blue curtain sectioning off half the room, there was plenty of space as Trump began to speak

NOT SO FAST: Some photos of the town hall showed views like this, making it seem like the space was full

The entire hall is a 72,000 square-foot behemoth that can seat 4,140 people at banquet tables without running afoul of the fire code, according to the convention center's event planning guide.

With rows of chairs instead of tables, the capacity would be larger.

Even with half-the room curtained off, the convention center would rent Monday's Trump event for 2,070 fans.

'So that's for political reasons they were turned away,' Trump fumed. 'And that's too bad. So we have a thousand people in there – they won’t allow any more.'

'The fire marshal said he's not allowed to allow any more even though the building holds many thousands of people, so I just want to tell you that.'

'That's politics at its lowest – you oughta check it out.'

'But it's really politics at its lowest,' Trump concluded. 'Come on, lets go have a good time.'

OUT OF LUCK: People waited for hours to see Trump – this line wrapped around a city block – only to be turned away when they reached the door

ENTHUSIASM: Trump supporters clamored to see him, including the owner of this truck that proclaims 'Stop Obama!' and 'Hillary for prison!'

Trump complained on Friday about a fire marshal in Colorado Springs, Colorado who shut the doors on his crowds, forcing thousands into an overflow room and leaving still more outside.

Trump said at the time that Fire Marshal Brett Lacey was 'probably a Democrat.'

Lacey, it emerged later, was honored for bravery after a pair of 2015 shootings, including one outside an abortion clinic.

But an irritated Trump boomed that 'we have thousands of people trying to get in and we have a fire marshal that says "No, we can't allow more people in"'

'And the reason they won't let them in is because they don't know what the hell they're doing,' he said Friday.

'Hey, maybe they're a Hillary person. Could that be possible? Probably,' he said.