President Donald Trump attempted to create some suspense this week over whether he might actually wear a face mask when he toured a Ford Motor Co. plant on Thursday.
But to no one’s surprise, the president was seen without a mask at the Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, even though Ford’s policy requires everyone to wear PPE at the facility to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Ford officials wore facial coverings while Trump, senior adviser Hope Hicks and chief of staff Mark Meadows went without masks for the public portion of the tour.
The president has been notoriously resistant to following the CDC guidelines regarding masks.
Trump claimed he wore a mask privately but took it off before appearing in public because he “didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it,” according to CNN reporter Manu Raju.
Trump was seen wearing a mask on portions of the tour, as seen in the photo below.
The president had hinted to reporters on at least two occasions that he might cover his face during the visit. Ford officials initially said they would make the president follow the same rules as everyone else, but backpedaled and claimed they would defer to the White House’s own policies on mask-wearing.
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