As guests of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Trump and First Lady Melania attend the “Namaste Trump Rally” at the massive Motera cricket stadium. The first family was serenaded along the route by artists and floats, depicting India’s diversity.
The massive stadium was filled with an estimated crowd of 125,000.  A transcript of President Trump’s speech below.

[Transcript] PRESIDENT TRUMP: Namaste! Namaste. (Applause.) And hello to India. This is such a great honor. Let me begin by expressing my profound gratitude to an exceptional leader, a great champion of India, a man who works night and day for his country, and a man I am proud to call my true friend: Prime Minister Modi. (Applause.)
The First Lady and I have just traveled 8,000 miles around the globe to deliver a message to every citizen across this nation: America loves India, America respects India, and America will always be faithful and loyal friends to the Indian people. (Applause.)
Five months ago, the United States welcomed your great Prime Minister at a giant football stadium in Texas, and today, India welcomes us at the world’s largest cricket stadium right here in Ahmedabad. (Applause.) It is a profound honor to be the beautiful new stadium, to be here with you — Motera Stadium. So beautiful. (Applause.) And joined by so many distinguished guests from all across your nation and all across the world.
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President Trump and First Lady Melania arrive in India for a two-day state visit.  The Trumps’ were greeted upon arrival with full pageantry and personal warmth by Prime Minister Modi.  WATCH:

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President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive in India shortly before noon local time (1:10am ET). On arrival at the Ahmedabad airport, the first couple will head straight to Sabarmati Ashram. The Trumps will reach the venue of the “Namaste Trump Rally” at the newly built Motera cricket stadium after being serenaded along the route by artists and floats, depicting India’s diversity.   President Trump will deliver a speech at the Namaste Trump welcome rally 1:15pm local / 2:45am ET.
The US President will then leave for Agra, arriving at just before 5:00pm local (6:30am ET) to take in the view of the Taj Mahal silhouetted against a setting sun. Cars are not allowed to be drive down to the Taj, alternative arrangements for Trump remain to be seen. While Prime Minister Modi will accompany Trump to his two venues in Ahmedabad, he will not be around at the Taj.  [Livestream Links With Schedule Below]

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Chopper pressers are the best pressers.  Earlier today President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump departed the White House heading to Ramstein Air Base in Germany on the first leg of their trip to India.  As the president departs he paused to answer a variety of questions from the media.  [Video Below, UPDATE Transcript added]

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody.

Q What’s your message to the people of India today?

Q (Inaudible) win for Bernie Sanders?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think it was a great win for Bernie Sanders. We’ll see how it all turns out. They’ve got a lot of winning to do. I hope they treat him fairly. Frankly, I don’t care who I run against. I just hope they treat him fairly. I hope it’s not going to be a rigged deal because there’s a lot of bad things going on. And I hope it’s not going to be one of those. So we’ll see what happens.

But I congratulate Bernie Sanders. And if it’s going to be him, he certainly has a substantial lead. We’ll see what happens.

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The White House has provided a great deal of background information on the upcoming trip to India by President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.

WHITE HOUSE – SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks to everyone for joining this call. The topic of the call: This is a background briefing with senior administration officials on President Donald J. Trump’s travel to India.
The briefing is embargoed until 2:30 p.m. and it’s offered on background attributed to a “senior administration official.”
Now, for your information only, we have two senior administration officials with us today. We have [senior administration officials].
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First Lady Melania Trump was in Palm Beach, Florida, Wednesday to accept Palm Beach Atlantic University’s 2020 Woman of Distinction Award. Video below:

…“As the first lady of the United States, it is a great honor to serve the people of this incredible country”

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President Trump is the first president to serve as the grand marshal for NASCAR’s  Daytona 500 today at the Daytona International Speedway.  The president will announce “Gentlemen start your engines”.  Videos and Pics below:

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President Trump and Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno deliver remarks to the press pool prior to a bilateral meeting in the White House. [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much. It’s great to be with the President of Ecuador — and it’s one of the most beautiful countries in the world — and perhaps equally as important, and maybe even more importantly, your great First Lady. Thank you very much for being here. This is a tremendous honor. Some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world and one of the most beautiful places on Earth, they say. I’ve heard that for a long time.
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Earlier today President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump welcomed the President of the Republic of Ecuador and Mrs. Rocio Gonzales De Moreno to the White House.
Ecuador is a key country for stability in central America.  A key topic of discussion between the two leaders will be Venezuela.  Ecuador is suffering firsthand the effects of Nicolas Maduro and his dictatorship in Venezuela with waves of economic migrants from Venezuela arriving through Colombia to Ecuador.   The refugee crisis represents a fiscal strain and also a security threat. There are 400,000 Venezuela refugees in Ecuador.

Counter-narcotics and a trade agreement are also a priority for this meeting. The United States and Ecuador are very close to a free trade agreement. USTR Robert Lighthizer has held a successful round-one negotiation for trade and investment with the Ecuadorian Commerce Ministry; and a second round is likely very soon.

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Ecuador and the United States are working toward an energy and infrastructure framework agreement under America Crece.  Brazil is likely to join in March and they will join Panama, Chile, Argentina, Jamaica, Colombia, El Salvador, and hopefully Ecuador.

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U.S. President Donald Trump, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and India Prime Minister Narendra Modi form a trilateral group within President Trump’s Indo-Pacific economic strategy.  Essentially a geopolitical alliance based on economic interests.
PM Abe and PM Modi have visited the U.S. several times since the alliance was formed. President Trump has also visited Japan several times but not visited India. (There has been a sticky issue with Modi’s protectionist trade tariffs.) However, today the White House announced President Trump & First Lady Melania will be traveling to India:

[White House] – President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will visit India on February 24 – 25, 2020. The President and The First Lady will travel to New Delhi and Ahmedabad, which is in Prime Minister Modi’s home state of Gujarat and played such an important role in Mahatma Gandhi’s life and leadership of the Indian independence movement.

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