WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump welcomed Gov. Greg Abbott to the Oval Office on Friday morning to announce the opening of a South Texas call center by telecom giant Charter Communications.

The company announced the expansion last August. But that didn't stop Trump from touting the move as a result of his business-friendly policies and aggressive cheerleading for firms that shift jobs back to the United States from overseas.

Charter CEO Thomas Rutledge joined the event, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry — Abbott's predecessor in Austin — was also on hand.

The company plans to open a bilingual call center in McAllen next month with a workforce of 600. One hundred workers have already been hired.

"We're embracing a new economic model — the American model. We're going to massively eliminate job-killing regulations. That has started already, big league. Reduce government burdens and lower taxes that are crushing American business and workers all over this country," Trump said, with Abbott at his right behind his desk and Rutledge to his left.

"You're going to see thousands and thousands and thousands of jobs and companies and everything coming back into our country. They're coming in far faster than even I had projected," the president said.

Rutledge is reportedly the nation's highest-paid chief executive, with compensation of roughly $98.5 million in 2016. The Connecticut-based telecommunications firm acquired Time Warner Cable last year and announced plans to move 20,000 jobs to the United States, including a call center expansion in San Antonio.

Roughly half of Time Warner's customer service and technical support calls were routed overseas, he said, and Charter intends to build enough capacity to handle all such calls within the United States.

Texas Gov Greg Abbott speaks to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House, along with Reed Cordish (center), assistant to the president for intragovernmental and technology initiatives, and Charter Communications CEO Thomas Rutledge, after meeting President Donald Trump. (Mandel Ngan/Agence France-Presse)

Rutledge is reportedly the nation's highest-paid chief executive, with compensation of roughly $98.5 million in 2016. The Connecticut-based telecommunications firm acquired Time Warner Cable last year and announced plans to move 20,000 jobs to the United States, including a call center expansion in San Antonio.

Roughly half of Time Warner's customer service and technical support calls were routed overseas, he said, and Charter intends to build enough capacity to handle all such calls within the United States.

Trump touted the company's efforts at on-shoring — announced shortly after he accepted the GOP nomination and well before he became president — as a sign that his policies are working.

"Charter has been in-sourcing jobs for the last five years," Rutledge said, adding that the company has found that "we can actually do better with high-skilled, high-quality American workers."

As Texas attorney general, Abbott regularly teamed up with Trump's EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt — then his counterpart in Oklahoma — to sue the Obama-era EPA.

"I'm proud of you. We have a president who is living up to his campaign promises," Abbott told Trump. "Texas is No. 1 in the nation for job creation because of the pro-business climate that we have. ... It's a win for the president; it's a win for Charter. It's a win for the great state of Texas."

Chronology aside, Trump lauded Charter for committing to bringing jobs back from overseas.

The company, he said, "has just committed to investing $25 billion with a 'b', $25 billion — you're sure that's right? Not with an 'm,' a 'b,' right?" he said, turning to Rutledge. "$25 billion here in the United States and further has committed to hiring 20,000 American workers over the next five years."

Abbott likewise sidestepped the fact that Charter's plans predated Trump's presidency.

"We are really focused on creating new jobs in the Lone Star State," he said after the Oval Office meeting, speaking outside the West Wing. "We appreciate what the president is doing. It was part of his commitment from the very beginning to create more jobs, to return jobs to the United States that have been outsourced overseas. We are seeing that process begin right here, right now, today."

On the health care bill pulled in the U.S. House, Abbott called the measure a "step in the right direction" but said he wasn't twisting any arms among the Texas Republican holdouts.

As attorney general, he led a multi-state legal challenge to Obamacare, which on Friday he called disastrous, illegal and wrong-headed. He said he liked the GOP plan because it would eliminate Obamacare, provide more affordable, more accessible health care and give states more flexibility with Medicaid funding.