Trump says he’ll deliver commencement address at West Point

President Trump on Friday said he will deliver the commencement address at West Point’s graduation ceremony, which is expected to be modified to accommodate social distancing due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump said at a White House briefing that he will travel to West Point, New York, to speak at the U.S. Military Academy for the June ceremony.

“I understand they’ll have distancing,” he said. “They’ll have some big distance, so it will be very different than it ever looked. Do I like the look? No, I don’t. And eventually, next year, they’ll have a commencement like it’s been.”

The address will mark a rare trip outside the White House for Trump, who has largely been sequestered during the pandemic. His only travel in recent weeks has been to bid farewell to a military hospital ship in Virginia as it headed to New York to take on patients.

Trump has given a commencement address at a military academy each year of his presidency.

Vice President Pence is scheduled to deliver the commencement address at the Air Force Academy in Colorado on Saturday. That event is also likely to be modified so that attendees can spread out to conform to social distancing guidelines.

The White House has issued guidance urging Americans to avoid gatherings of 10 or more people, limit non-essential travel and maintain a distance of six feet or more to try and limit the spread of the coronavirus, which has killed more than 36,000 people in the U.S. as of Friday evening.