NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - The Latest on President Donald Trump’s visit to a Boeing production facility in North Charleston (all times local):
2:55 p.m.
President Donald Trump has used a stop at Boeing’s South Carolina production facilities to stress his goal of returning jobs to the U.S.
Trump told thousands gathered in a huge hangar at the aviation giant’s North Charleston campus that his mantra is “Buy American, and hire American.”
Trump and Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg entered the cavernous room as a massive door slowly slid open to reveal the first 787-10 Dreamliner, Boeing’s latest showpiece aircraft, to roll off assembly lines here.
Before his speech, Trump toured Boeing’s plant with his daughter, Ivanka, and her husband, adviser Jared Kushner. In his opening comments, he thanked Gov. Henry McMaster for his early support of his candidacy.
McMaster became governor last month after Trump picked then-Gov. Nikki Haley as his ambassador to the United Nations.
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1:30 p.m.
The pastor of a historically black South Carolina church where nine people were slain has given the invocation at a Boeing visit by President Donald Trump.
Rev. Eric Manning led a crowd of thousands in prayer to open the afternoon event at the aviation giant’s North Charleston facilities.
Manning is the current pastor of Emanuel AME Church, where Dylann Roof shot nine Bible study participants to death in an June 2015 attack. Roof was convicted of federal hate crimes and sentenced to death earlier this year.
Gov. Henry McMaster also addressed the crowd, telling employees he felt companies like Boeing and a president like Trump could help make the country “great again and greater than ever before.”
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12:30 p.m.
More than a hundred people are protesting President Donald Trump’s visit to South Carolina.
South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Jaime Harrison told The Associated Press that more than 150 people had gathered around noon Friday about a mile from the Boeing facility where Trump is expected in the afternoon.
In a release sent out ahead of the visit, state Democrats said Trump was “taking his Russian clown show on the road” to North Charleston and encouraged people to come and “demand an investigation” into the administration’s relationship with Russia.
Trump is at Boeing for the rollout of the first 787-10 Dreamliner to come off the aviation giant’s North Charleston assembly plant. Both he and Gov. Henry McMaster are expected to make remarks.
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Noon
Hundreds of Boeing employees are awaiting the arrival of President Donald Trump at a Boeing production facility in North Charleston.
Trump is expected to arrive at the plant at around 12:30 p.m. for the rollout of the first 787-10 Dreamliner aircraft from its assembly line here. Until then, workers are hearing presentations about the company’s successes and heard a performance from American Idol winner Candice Glover, a Beaufort native.
This is the first visit by a sitting president to the facility, which opened in 2011. It comes two days after Boeing workers voted overwhelmingly to turn back an effort to unionize the plant.
Both Trump and top South Carolina backer Gov. Henry McMaster are set to deliver remarks. McMaster became the state’s top executive last month after Trump selected then-Gov. Nikki Haley as his United Nations ambassador.
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5:40 a.m.
President Donald Trump is visiting South Carolina for the first time since winning the Republican primary a year ago.
The president travels Friday to North Charleston, where Boeing is rolling out the first 787-10 Dreamliner aircraft from its assembly line.
The trip comes just two days after Boeing workers voted overwhelmingly to turn back an effort to unionize the plant.
Both Trump and top South Carolina backer Gov. Henry McMaster are set to deliver remarks. McMaster became the state’s top executive last month after Trump selected then-Gov. Nikki Haley as his United Nations ambassador.
Also slated to speak is Rev. Eric Manning. He’s pastor of Emanuel AME Church, site of the June 2015 slayings of nine Bible study participants by Dylann Roof.
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