The Latest: Trump touts tax overhaul as boon for farmers

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump (all times EST):

11:30 p.m.

Connecting with rural Americans, President Donald Trump has hailed his tax overhaul as a victory for family farmers and pitched his vision to expand access to broadband internet.

Trump cast internet access as a cornerstone of economic development in the nation’s heartland.

Trump spoke Monday in Nashville, Tennessee, at the annual convention of the American Farm Bureau Federation, calling farm country “God’s country.” He was the first president in a quarter-century to address the federation’s convention.

The presidential visit came as a White House report proposed ways to stimulate a segment of the national economy that has lagged behind others. His Southern swing also included a stop in Atlanta for the national college football championship game.

Among those joining Trump at the farm bureau convention was Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.

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4:30 p.m.

President Donald Trump is hailing the Republican tax overhaul law during a pitch to rural America at a meeting of the American Farm Bureau Federation.

Trump notes in Nashville, Tennessee, that he’s the first president to address the group in a quarter-century.

He says tax cuts and the doubling of the threshold for the estate tax will help farmers.

Trump says “most family farms will be spared” now from the “deeply unfair estate tax,” adding that the GOP law will help farmers “keep your farms in the family.”

The president is also generating applause with his calls for the American flag and the national anthem to be “respected.” Trump was traveling to Atlanta later Monday for the College Football Playoff National Championship.

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10:45 a.m.

President Donald Trump plans to promote his tax overhaul law as a boon for rural America during an address to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

The White House released excerpts of the president’s prepared remarks Monday. Trump says most of the benefits of the legislation are “going to working families, small businesses and family farmers.”

The $1.5 trillion package that Trump signed into law last month provides generous tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Americans, and more modest reductions for middle- and low-income individuals and families.

Trump on Monday is set to become the first president in a quarter century to address the annual convention of the American Farm Bureau Federation. He will travel to Nashville, Tennessee, for the remarks.

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7:10 a.m.

The NAACP is urging people to wear white and hold anti-Trump signs on Monday for President Donald Trump’s visit to Atlanta. Another group says demonstrators will “take a knee” before the big football game.

Atlanta police say they worked with the Secret Service on preparations for months before the College Football Championship game between Alabama and Georgia.

Another group, Refuse Fascism ATL, says that before kickoff, they’ll “take a knee against Trump” outside CNN’s world headquarters, in solidarity with athletes who have knelt during the national anthem to protest racial injustice.

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7 a.m.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson says the halftime song at the College Football Championship game should be “We Shall Overcome.” That’s because he says most of the players for both Georgia and Alabama are black, and they could not have played had the South remained segregated.

President Donald Trump won the states of Alabama and Georgia in the 2016 presidential election, but Jackson says his politics and policies are antithetical to Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream for America.

Jackson says the big game’s real meaning is that blacks can win on the playing field, but still face racial barriers after they take off their uniforms.

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1:20 a.m.

President Donald Trump is promoting his administration’s plans to boost economic development in rural communities — and reserving a seat at college football’s championship game.

Trump is set Monday to address the annual convention of the American Farm Bureau Federation in Nashville, Tennessee. After he unveils proposals to assist rural economies, the president will attend the Alabama-Georgia game in Atlanta Monday night.

The White House says its plan calls for expediting federal permitting to allow for broadband internet expansion in rural areas and for making it easier for providers to place cell towers on federal lands.

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