Trump cuts aircraft for Pelosi’s trip
WASHINGTON — She raised concerns about 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, Mr. Trump issued a letter to Ms. Pelosi on Thursday just before she and other lawmakers were set to depart on a previously undisclosed trip, telling her that, “Due to the Shutdown, I am sorry to inform you that your trip to Brussels, Egypt, and Afghanistan has been postponed.”
Mr. Trump belittled the trip as a “public relations event” — even though he had just made a similar war-zone stop — and said it would be best if Ms. Pelosi remained in Washington to negotiate to reopen the government, especially “[i]n light of the 800,000 great American
workers not receiving pay.”
“Obviously, if you would like to make your journey by flying commercial, that would certainly be your prerogative,” wrote Mr. Trump, who had been smarting since Ms. 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 is rare. Lawmakers were caught off guard. A bus to ferry the legislators to their departure idled outside the Capitol on Thursday afternoon.
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 Mr. Trump had traveled to Iraq during the shutdown and said a Republican-led congressional trip also had taken place.
While there were few signs of progress Thursday on ending the shutdown, Vice President Mike Pence and senior adviser Jared Kushner dashed to the Capitol late in the day for a meeting with Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. And the State Department instructed all U.S. diplomats in Washington and elsewhere to return to work next week with pay, saying it had found money for their salaries at least temporarily.
For security reasons, Ms. Pelosi would normally make such a trip on a military aircraft supplied by the Pentagon. According to a defense official, Ms. Pelosi did request Defense Department support for overseas travel and it was initially approved. The official said the president does have the authority to cancel the use of military aircraft.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Mr. Trump wanted Ms. Pelosi to stay in Washington before Tuesday, a deadline to prepare the next round of paychecks for federal workers.
“We want to keep her in Washington,” Ms. Sanders said. “The president wants her here to negotiate.”
The White House also canceled plans for a presidential delegation to travel to an economic forum in Switzerland next week, citing the shutdown.
Mr. Trump was taken by surprise by Ms. Pelosi’s move to postpone his address and told one adviser it was the sort of disruptive move he would make himself, according to a Republican who was not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.
While he maintained a public silence, Mr. Trump grew weary of how Ms. Pelosi’s move was being received and reiterated fears that he was being outmaneuvered in the public eye. Mr. Trump was delighted at the idea of canceling Ms. Pelosi’s trip, believing the it would highlight her hypocrisy for cancelling his speech, according to the Republican.
Mr. Trump declined to address the stalemate over the speech during a visit Thursday to the Pentagon, simply promising that the nation will have “powerful, strong border security.”