‘Major announcement’ is planned by Trump
He’s expected to address shutdown and the border
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says he’ll make a “major announcement” on the government shutdown and the southern border on Saturday afternoon as the standstill over his border wall continues.
The White House did not immediately provide details on Friday about what the president would announce, but a person familiar with the planning said Trump planned to outline a new deal with specific proposals the administration believes could potentially pave the way to the shutdown’s end. The person was not authorized to discuss the announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The move — on Day 28 of a shutdown that has left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without paychecks — represents the first major overture by the president since Jan. 8, when he delivered an Oval Office address making the public case for his border wall. The president and his aides have said he will not budge on his demand for $5.7 billion for his border wall. Democrats said they will not negotiate until the government reopens.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to discuss what Trump might propose but said he was “going to continue looking for the solution” to end what the administration had repeatedly referred to as a “humanitarian and national security crisis at the border.” While few would argue that a humanitarian crisis is unfolding as the demand for entry by migrants and the Trump administration’s hardline response overwhelm border resources, critics say Trump has badly exaggerated the security risks.
Friday evening’s announcement came after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi canceled plans to travel commercially to visit U.S. troops in Afghanistan, saying Trump had caused a security risk by talking about the trip. The White House said there was no such leak.
But it was the latest turn — and potentially the most dangerous — in the highstakes brinkmanship between Trump and Pelosi.
Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, said it “gives new meaning” to tensions between the executive and legislative branches.
“There are public back and forths,” he said, citing relations between past presidents and House speakers. “But this kind of tensions — preventing the speaker from visiting the troops and the speaker suggesting the White House leaked information about a crucial flight — this is one more example of where Trumpism brings us into new territory.”
Sanders on Friday stressed the importance of a looming Tuesday deadline to process paychecks, when the government will need to decide if workers get another round of zeros on Friday’s payday.
“One of the key reasons that the president did not want Speaker Pelosi to leave the country is because, if she did, it would all but guarantee the fact that the negotiations couldn’t take place over the weekend,” Sanders told reporters.
Next week, House Democrats will pass bills to try to fund the government, including one adding $1 billion to border security — to hire 75 immigration judges and improve infrastructure. The Republicancontrolled Senate has declined to consider any bills unless Trump is prepared to sign them into law.