President Trump’s Missouri event closed to the public

President Donald Trump will visit a Missouri manufacturing company Wednesday to promote his proposed tax cuts at an event that won’t be open to the general public.

Air Force One will land at Springfield-Branson National Airport shortly before before 1 p.m. Wednesday, according to the White House press office. Trump will speak at Springfield’s Loren Cook Co., which manufactures fans, blowers and laboratory exhaust systems, shortly thereafter.

Trump’s speech, coming at a time when Houston is grappling with historic flooding caused by a tropical storm, is expected to focus on his tax plan, which includes a tax cut for business owners. The Loren Cook Co. would not comment Monday about the president’s visit.

U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder, an Overland Park Republican, said Monday that he expected the White House to rely on the House leadership’s tax plan, noting that Trump has given broad ideas about cutting tax rates but has not spelled out a specific plan.

The president’s visit also comes a little more than a year before Missouri could determine control of the U.S. Senate when Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill stands for re-election.

Trump tweeted about McCaskill Sunday, accusing her of opposing tax cuts and predicting that “Republican will win S(enate)!”

A coalition of Missouri groups is planning to gather just down the street from Loren Cook Co. at the Teamsters hall at 11:30 a.m. to protest the president’s visit. They expect to fill the roughly two miles of sidewalk between the Teamsters building and the perimeter set up around the company for the president’s visit.

Lindsay Wise, the Star’s Washington correspondent, contributed to this report.

This story was originally published August 28, 2017 at 10:14 AM with the headline "President Trump’s Missouri event closed to the public."