Pelosi Was Going To Fly With A Military Aircraft While Fed Workers Are Out of Work .... Trump Put an End To This Hypocracy!

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.