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Trump Orders US Flags at Half-Staff for COVID-19 Victims

VOA News

   U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered flags on all federal buildings
   and monuments lowed to half-staff for the next three days in memory of
   all Americans who have lost their lives to the coronavirus.

   He made the announcement late Thursday on Twitter at the same time he
   said the lowered flags Monday will also honor servicemen and women "who
   have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation" as the country marks
   Memorial Day.

   Meanwhile, Michigan's attorney general said Trump may not be invited
   back to the state if he refuses to wear a face mask in public.

   Trump on Thursday visited a Ford auto factory near Detroit that has
   been converted into a plant to build ventilators.

   All of the Ford executives who were showing Trump around the plant were
   wearing face masks. But Trump, as he has always done, refused to wear
   one.

   Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said it isn't just Ford Motors'
   policy that all visitors to its plants wear a mask -- it is also state
   law.

   "He's going to be asked not to return to any enclosed facilities inside
   our state '¦ we're going to have to take action" against any company
   that allows it in the future," Nessel said.

   When asked if Trump was told it was not acceptable to not wear a mask
   in the plant, Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford said, "It's up to him."

   Trump claimed he did wear a mask out of view of reporters because he
   said he did not want to give the media the pleasure of seeing it.

   The president has reportedly told White House aides that he does not
   want to wear a mask in public because he thinks it makes him look weak.

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