President Donald Trump Cancels Nancy Pelosi Foreign Trip Citing Shutdown

Donald Trump has denied House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi the use of military aircraft for an overseas trip, asking her to stay to negotiate the partial US government shutdown.

On Wednesday Mrs Pelosi had urged Mr Trump to postpone his State of the Union address, amid political deadlock.

Mr Trump’s move came on the 27th day of the US’s longest-ever federal shutdown.

The Republican president wants $5.7bn (£4.4bn) of congressional funding to build a wall on the US-Mexico border, but Democrats have refused.

Mr Trump’s cancellation of the trip emerged less than an hour before the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives was scheduled to leave on Thursday afternoon, US media say.

In a letter to Pelosi denying her delegation the use of a plane, President Trump called the trip an “excursion.”

“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,”

“I also feel that, during this period, it would be better if you were in Washington negotiating with me and joining the Strong Border Security movement to end the Shutdown, he wrote.

President @realDonaldTrump’s letter to @SpeakerPelosi concerning her upcoming travel pic.twitter.com/TtBCvwp080

— Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) January 17, 2019