Pelosi Was Less Than an Hour Away from Leaving US Before Trump Canceled Her Trip
President Donald Trump’s postponement of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s overseas trip came abruptly before she and her delegation were set to depart.
This led to some awkward fumbling from the congressional delegates who were waiting on a bus as the order came in on Thursday afternoon.
Fox News reported that the president denied access to military aircraft moments before the group planned on leaving.
Fox is told CapHill security officials got an emergency call from the Pentagon canceling the overseas trip due to shutdown. No one here knows if the trip is going to happen or not. Lots of confusion pic.twitter.com/eFCqsaNcGe
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 17, 2019
An official told Fox News that “as soon as the president found out about the trip today, he took immediate action.”
The sudden change of plans left the members of the delegation waiting on a U.S. Air Force bus at Capitol Hill. Some uncomfortably funny moment-by-moment reporting of the situation was captured on Twitter:
The bus went around the block and back to the Capitol where members eventually got off. pic.twitter.com/Os3LTTmG8h
— Jason Donner (@jason_donner) January 17, 2019
Members including House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff getting off the bus in front of the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/G6JMtVCg8h
— Jason Donner (@jason_donner) January 17, 2019
Bus circled around and dropped lawmakers off at Capitol. Rep Adam Schiff came off “I don’t have any comment” pic.twitter.com/WYTWRLH6vl
— Emily Goodin (@Emilylgoodin) January 17, 2019
The White House postponed the trip, saying that it would take Pelosi out of the country past the next government pay period.
“If she had gone on this trip she would have guaranteed that 800,000 federal workers would not receive their second paycheck because she would not have been here to negotiate any kind of deal,” a senior White House official told the media on Thursday.
In a letter to Pelosi, Trump wrote that the trip would be rescheduled after the government shutdown ends.
“In light of the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay, I am sure you would agree that postponing this public relations event is totally appropriate,” Trump wrote.
President @realDonaldTrump’s letter to @SpeakerPelosi concerning her upcoming travel pic.twitter.com/TtBCvwp080
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) January 17, 2019
However, the president isn’t keeping anyone from leaving the country, just from using military aircraft. A senior White House official told Fox News that the president has postponed all use of military aircraft by congressional delegations until after the shutdown.
President Trump is letting Pelosi know that he’s not backing down on his request for border wall funding. If taking the shutdown seriously means that some members of Congress took an unnecessary bus tour of Capitol Hill, so be it.
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