May 5 (UPI) — President Donald Trump arrived in Arizona Tuesday, starting his most extensive trip away from the White House since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in mid-March.
Trump touched down in Phoenix with an agenda that included a roundtable discussion on supporting Native Americans during the health crisis and a tour of a Honeywell International aerospace facility making respirator masks.
North Carolina-based Honeywell is expanding its facilities in Phoenix to produce millions of N95 respirator masks under a contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. They are earmarked for healthcare workers across the country.
“I’m going there for two reasons,” he told reporters at Andrews Air Force Base before his departure. “I love Arizona. I have a lot of friends in Arizona. I’ve had great success over the years in Arizona.
“And I’m going to pay my respects to Honeywell, one of our great companies that has done a fantastic job for us. So I look forward to it,” he said.
Trump also said he would “have no problem” wearing a mask during his trip to the Honeywell plant if it were “a mask environment.”
Vice President Mike Pence faced criticism last week for declining to wear a mask during a tour of the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
The president arrived in Arizona along with Republican members of the state’s Congressional delegation, including Sen. Martha McSally and Reps. Debbie Lesko and Paul Gosar.
The White House said there will be no political events during the trip to the key presidential battleground state.
Trump is scheduled to deliver remarks at the Honeywell facility at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time.
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