Livestream: Trump Visits Michigan Thursday

MICHIGAN — President Donald Trump is visiting Michigan Thursday, stopping by a Ford Motor plant in Ypsilanti where workers have been manufacturing ventilators for workers on the front line of the coronavirus crisis.

The president is expected to arrive in Michigan around 1:40 p.m. and should arrive at the Ford Rawsonville Plant shortly after 2 p.m. His tour is expected to begin around 3 p.m. before he gives a statement at 3:20 p.m.

Trump's visit to the Ford plant is in part because the location makes ventilators for those needing them during the coronavirus pandemic, The Detroit Free Press reported. Ford Motor announced plans to produce more than 50,000 ventilators in March, and expressed the intention to have the ventilators completed and distributed by July 4, according to the Free Press.

Trump's visit has drawn some criticism because he has not addressed whether he will wear a face mask covering during the visit. The Free Press reported that while the visit contradicts rules put in place by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to stop the spread of the virus, she isn't planning to stop it.

"Ford and the UAW are doing incredible work for the country and their ingenuity will save lives," Whitmer's communications team told the Free Press. "While the president's visit is contrary to the governor's order, this is an opportunity to showcase how important Michigan is to the response to COVID-19 and rebuilding our nation's economy.”

Trump, meanwhile, said he hasn't even thought of whether he'll don a mask while touring the facility, according to a report by Bloomberg.

While Ford Motor has a policy requiring all people visiting their factories to wear a mask, they are becoming a little more flexible ahead of the president's stop in Michigan, Bloomberg reported.

Prior to touring the Ford Motor factory, Trump is expected to meet with Detroit-area black leaders, according to a report from MLive.

The president's meeting will focus on efforts to help distressed communities recover from the coronavirus pandemic, the outlet reported. The meeting will take place outside the Ford plant and will include national African American leaders as well, according to MLive.

Thursday's visit will be Trump's third trip to a 2020 battleground state in as many weeks. The president visited a Honeywell N95 mask facility in Arizona May 5. Last week, Trump was in Pennsylvania, where he visited a facility that distributes personal protective equipment.

Trump's visit comes after he blasted Michigan election officials for mailing absentee ballots to registered voters, going so far as to threaten to cut the state's relief funding amid the coronavirus pandemic. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson corrected Trump in a statement, saying the state was mailing applications for the ballots, not the ballots themselves.