WASHINGTON: US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday excoriated her political nemesis, President Donald Trump, for ‘outing’ her commercial trip to Afghanistan after he barred her from using a military aircraft, forcing her to scrap it entirely over security concerns.
The brawl between the no-nonsense Republican leader and the take-no-prisoners Democrat is the latest round in their showdown, which could take a new turn with Trump announcing he will be making a ‘major announcement’ Saturday regarding the partial government shutdown and the situation on the US-Mexico border.
The federal government has been shuttered for four weeks over Trump’s insistence that a wider federal budget measure include billions of dollars for a border wall — and Pelosi’s refusal to go along.
Their spat spilled into the diplomatic arena Thursday when, after Pelosi suggested Trump postpone his State of the Union address until government reopens, the president grounded the military plane set to transport her delegation.
Pelosi accused Trump of being ‘very irresponsible’ in breaching security protocol.
“We had a report from Afghanistan that the president outing our trip had made the scene on the ground much more dangerous because it’s just a signal to the bad actors that we’re coming,” she told reporters.
The administration strongly denies that it “leaked” any plans about the trip to a war zone.
“The idea we would leak anything that would put the safety and security of any American at risk is a flat-out lie,” a senior White House official said.
The US government shutdown, which has left about 800,000 federal workers without a paycheck, is now the longest in the country’s history — and there is no sign of a compromise.
The Office of Management and Budget reportedly issued a memorandum saying that “under no circumstance during a government shutdown” can a congressional delegation use government aircraft for travel.
However, Republican Representative Lee Zeldin led a delegation to Iraq and other countries since the shutdown began.
With the two sides showing no sign of a breakthrough, some cash-strapped federal workers — many working without pay, others forced to stay home — are tapping life savings, selling possessions or taking advantage of food pantries to help make ends meet. — AFP