Donald Trump on Thursday said he wore a mask during part of his visit to a Ford plant in Michigan, but did so away from cameras because he “didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it.”
Trump has said he looks better in the mask, even though he has not been publicly seen wearing one despite recommendations to do so from his own administration. However, a photo emerged after the visit on Thursday showing Trump with a face covering, which NBC News later confirmed with a source:
Bill Ford, the company’s chairman, said in a statement that Trump wore a mask behind the scenes.
“He wore a mask during a private viewing of three Ford GTs from over the years,” Ford said in a statement cited by NPR. “The President later removed the mask for the remainder of the visit.”
While Trump may have worn a mask briefly, he attended multiple events throughout the visit without a facial covering. Nearly everyone else did. He has frequently resisted wearing a mask during the global pandemic, and didn’t put one on even while touring a facility that makes them.
“Somehow sitting in the Oval Office behind that beautiful Resolute Desk, the great Resolute Desk, I think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, I don’t know, somehow I don’t see it for myself,” Trump said last month.
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