Trump in flight fight

SHE imperilled 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 game of constitutional brinkmanship, with both flexing political powers as the negotiations to end the monthlong partial government shutdown remain stalled.

In dramatic fashion, Mr Trump issued a letter to Ms Pelosi yesterday, soon before she and other politicians were to depart on an undisclosed trip to Afghanistan and Brussels.

The President belittled the trip as a “public relations event” — even though he had made a similar war zone stop — and said it would be best if Ms 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,” he wrote.

The previous day Ms Pelosi called on him to postpone his January 29 State of the Union address due to the shutdown.

Denying military aircraft to a senior politician — let alone the Speaker, who is second in line to the White House, travelling to a combat region — is rare.

A bus to ferry the legislators to their departure idled outside the Capitol yesterday.

The political tit-for-tat laid bare how the governmentwide crisis has devolved into a pointed clash between the two leaders.

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.