Trump leaves White House for first out-of-state event in nearly 2 months

President Trump left the White House for an out-of-state event for the first time in nearly two months Tuesday, after largely staying at the White House as Americans across the country were encouraged to stay home. After visiting Camp David in Maryland last week, the president headed to Arizona to visit a Honeywell factory.

Mr. Trump has been eager to get out of the house, even the White House. He’s also said he wants to see “massive” rallies ahead of the November election, although the Trump campaign has offered no potential dates. The president said last week he plans to go to Ohio soon as well. 

“And we’re going to start to move around.  And hopefully, in the not-too-distant future, we’ll have some massive rallies and people will be sitting next to each other. I can’t imagine a rally where you have every fourth seat full. Every — every six seats are empty for every one that you have full. That wouldn’t look too good,” the president told reporters during a meeting with business people. 

At the Honeywell factory in Phoenix, Arizona, the president is slated to take part in a roundtable discussion on supporting Native Americans, tour the facility’s mask production assembly line, and deliver remarks. Honeywell is aiming to produce more than 20 million N95 masks monthly to fight COVID-19. Those masks are considered the most effective, meant for health care workers on the front lines. 

The president told reporters on the White House South Lawn Tuesday he may wear a mask if he’s going to a mask facility, but seemed unsure what kind of facility he was visiting. 

“I think it’s a mask facility, right? If it’s a mask facility I will, yeah,” he told reporters who asked him if he planned to wear a mask. “I don’t know if it’s a mask facility. We’re going to see Honeywell.”

But when he toured the factory, the president and members of his staff, including chief of staff Mark Meadows and press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, did not wear masks, despite a sign saying masks are required in that area. The president and people around him are tested regularly. 

Before leaving the White House Tuesday, the president said he isn’t worried about traveling to Arizona because everyone with him had been tested in the last hour or so. 

As states are opening up, the U.S. is preparing for the grim certainty of additional deaths. Mr. Trump in a Sunday night Fox News town hall said the death toll could be around 100,000, revised upwards from earlier figures he’s used.