She imperiled his State of the Union address. He denied her a plane to visit troops abroad.
The shutdown battle between President Donald Trump and House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi is playing out as a surreal game of constitutional brinkmanship, with both flexing their political powers from opposite
ends of Pennsylvania Avenue as the negotiations to end the monthlong
partial government shutdown remain stalled.
In dramatic fashion, Trump issued a letter to Pelosi on Thursday, just before she and other lawmakers were set to depart on the
previously undisclosed trip to Afghanistan and Brussels. Trump belittled the trip as a “public relations event” — even though he
had just made a similar warzone stop — and said it would be
best if Pelosi remained in Washington to negotiate to reopen the government.
“Obviously, if you would like to make your journey by flying commercial, that would certainly be your prerogative,” wrote
Trump, who had been smarting since Pelosi, the day before,
called on him to postpone his Jan. 29 State of the Union address
due to the shutdown.
Denying military aircraft to a senior lawmaker — let alone the
speaker, who is second in line to the White House, traveling to a combat region — is very rare. Lawmakers were caught off guard.
A bus to ferry the legislators to their departure idled outside the Capitol on Thursday afternoon.
The political tit-for-tat between Trump and Pelosi laid bare how
the government-wide crisis has devolved into an intensely
pointed clash between two leaders both determined to prevail.
It took place as hundreds of thousands of federal workers go
without pay and Washington’s routine protocols — a president’s speech to Congress, a lawmaker’s official trip — became collateral damage.
Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said the speaker planned to
travel to Afghanistan and Brussels to thank service members and
obtain briefings on national security and intelligence “from those
on the front lines.” He noted Trump had traveled to Iraq during
the shutdown and said a Republican-led congressional trip also
had taken place.
Trump’s move was the latest example of his extraordinary
willingness to tether U.S. government resources to his political
needs. He has publicly urged the Justice Department to
investigate political opponents and threatened to cut disaster aid
to Puerto Rico amid a spat with the island territory’s leaders.
For security reasons, Pelosi would normally make such a trip on
a military aircraft supplied by the Pentagon. According to a
defense official, Pelosi did request Defense Department support
for overseas travel and it was initially approved. The official
wasn’t authorized to speak by name about the matter, so spoke
on condition of anonymity.
The official said the president does have the authority to cancel
the use of military aircraft.
Rep. Adam Schiff of California slammed Trump for revealing the closely held travel plans. “I think the president’s decision to
disclose a trip the speaker’s making to a war zone was
completely and utterly irresponsible in every way,” Schiff said.
Trump’s trip to Iraq after Christmas was not disclosed in
advance for security reasons.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said
Trump wanted Pelosi to stay in Washington before Tuesday, a deadline to prepare the next round of paychecks for federal
workers.
3 comments:
Well Melania is flying back and forth to Florida on the taxpayer's dime, not to mention her big bucks trimp to Africa. Trump flew to the border for a photo-op. Drop the double standards.
11:54
You are comparing the President of the USA and his wife to Pelosi??????
LOL HA Ha Ha.....
Anonymous #1, what makes you say she flew to Florida with taxpayer's money? President Trump is known to pay for many expenses, and this might be another one.
#2 responded well, how can you compare the President to such a low woman?
Post a Comment