WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the partial government shutdown (all times local):
12:30 p.m.
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (puh-LOH’-see) is accusing the White House of leaking information about her planned congressional trip to Afghanistan and saying it’s “very irresponsible on the part of the president.”
Pelosi’s comments Friday came after President Donald Trump canceled the military plane that was to have carried a congressional delegation to Afghanistan on the previously undisclosed troop visit. Trump suggested she travel by commercial plane instead.
Pelosi said she planned to do just that but was thwarted after “the administration leaked that we were traveling commercially.” She says the State Department reported “the president outing” the original trip made the scene on the ground in Afghanistan “more dangerous because it’s a signal to the bad actors that we’re coming.”
The White House has denied leaking Pelosi’s backup plan to fly commercially and says it leaked nothing that would cause a security risk.
Pelosi and Trump are at an impasse over funding Trump wants for a U.S.-Mexico border wall. The partial government shutdown has reached its 28th day.
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11:30 a.m.
The White House is denying that it leaked Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (puh-LOH’-seez) backup plan to fly to Afghanistan commercially after President Donald Trump grounded her Air Force jet.
A White House official speaking Friday on the condition of anonymity to address Pelosi’s charge said it didn’t leak her plan.
Trump revealed the previously secret trip publicly on Thursday and denied Pelosi the use of a military plane for the trip.
Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill says she and accompanying lawmakers were prepared to take a commercial flight but canceled after the State Department warned that publicity over the visit had “significantly increased the danger to the delegation and to the troops, security, and other officials supporting the trip.”
Pelosi and Trump are at an impasse over funding Trump wants for a U.S.-Mexico border wall, which Pelosi opposes. The partial government shutdown has reached its 28th day.
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By Zeke Miller.
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10:15 a.m.
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is canceling a congressional fact-finding trip to Afghanistan and claiming the White House leaked her plans to fly commercial.
Friday’s announcement by Pelosi’s office came a day after President Donald Trump nixed Pelosi’s plans to take a military aircraft to Afghanistan.
Spokesman Drew Hammill says Pelosi and accompanying lawmakers were prepared to take a commercial flight but canceled after the State Department warned that publicity over the visit had “significantly increased the danger to the delegation and to the troops, security, and other officials supporting the trip.”
Trump’s move to cancel the military plane traditionally used to fly to war zones came a day after Pelosi infuriated Trump by moving to delay Trump’s Jan. 29 State of the Union speech in the House chamber.
The White House has not responded to Pelosi’s leak claim.
Pelosi and Trump are at an impasse over funding Trump wants for a U.S.-Mexico border wall, which Pelosi opposes. The partial government shutdown has reached its 28th day.
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12:20 a.m.
She imperiled 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, Trump issued a letter to Pelosi on Thursday, just before she and other lawmakers were set to depart on the previously undisclosed trip to Afghanistan and Brussels. Trump belittled the trip as a “public relations event” — even though he had just made a similar warzone stop — and said it would be best if Pelosi remained in Washington to negotiate.
