President Donald Trump accompanied by Dr. Alveda King, niece of civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., right, arrives at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Ga., Monday, Jan. 8, 2018, to attend the NCAA National Championship game. King was on board for a bill signing creating a national historic park for Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
President Donald Trump accompanied by Dr. Alveda King, niece of civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., right, arrives at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Ga., Monday, Jan. 8, 2018, to attend the NCAA National Championship game. King was on board for a bill signing creating a national historic park for Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Andrew Harnik AP Photo
President Donald Trump accompanied by Dr. Alveda King, niece of civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., right, arrives at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Ga., Monday, Jan. 8, 2018, to attend the NCAA National Championship game. King was on board for a bill signing creating a national historic park for Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Andrew Harnik AP Photo

National

Trump takes field at college football championship game

By ZEKE MILLER Associated Press

January 08, 2018 08:45 PM

UPDATED 1 MINUTE AGO

ATLANTA

President Donald Trump took the field before Alabama and Georgia faced off in the College Football Playoff National Championship in Atlanta.

Tens of thousands of fans filling the $1.5 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium greeted Trump with a mixed reaction as ROTC members escorted him onto the field for the national anthem. The president stood with his hand over his heart and an American flag pin on his lapel, and sang a few words as Georgia's Zac Brown Band and a gospel choir performed the anthem.

Trump has criticized professional football players who kneel during the anthem to protest racial injustice, as well as the NFL itself for allowing it.

"We want our flag respected," Trump said earlier Monday during a speech in Nashville, "and we want our national anthem respected also."

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The president watched the game from a private box overlooking the Alabama sideline flanked by ROTC students. The Tuscaloosa News reported that he was scheduled to appear on the Alabama radio broadcast during the game.

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