Speaker of House Nancy Pelosi is the next person in line to assume the US Presidency should Donald Trump and Mike Pence not be able to assume the office….
As such?
She has protective detail wherever she goes on the planet….
Going to Afghanistan and traveling around their would carry a security risk….
So she and any other Speaker gets to fly in and travel around with the assistance of military assets…
Donald Trump’s order that the Speaker NOT be afforded those assets seems to be spiteful and babyish …..
It will only serve to embolden Democrats to resist Trump’s efforts to lift the government shutdown with money for a border wall….
President Donald Trump hit back at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday, canceling a planned congressional trip to Afghanistan just moments before Democrats were slated to depart.
The remarkable counter-punch came in the form of a terse letter to Pelosi blasted out to reporters and promoted by White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Twitter. It marked the president’s first public response to Pelosi’s Wednesday morning request to postpone the annual State of the Union address at the end of the month, citing security concerns stemming from the lengthy shutdown.
“Due to the Shutdown, I am sorry to inform you that your trip to Brussels, Egypt, and Afghanistan has been postponed,” Trump wrote. “We will reschedule this seven-day excursion when the Shutdown is over. 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.”
In his letter, the president called on Pelosi to remain in Washington during the shutdown, adding that lawmakers are welcome to make the trips abroad on commercial flights.
Trump’s decision is likely to dramatically increase tensions with congressional Democrats…
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Aircraft trackers on Twitter were also quick to note that First Lady Melania Trump was apparently using a government plane on Thursday to fly to Florida for an already scheduled trip, according to several media reports. The first lady’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment…
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“One sophomoric response does not deserve another,” he wrote. “Speaker Pelosi’s threat to cancel the State of the Union is very irresponsible and blatantly political. President Trump denying Speaker Pelosi military travel to visit our troops in Afghanistan, our allies in Egypt and NATO is also inappropriate.”
A senior Pelosi aide pointed to “multiple administration” sources telling reporters Friday morning that the delegation would continue on commercial aircraft. ABC News was among those contacted.
The White House denied that the administration leaked word of the commercial travel plans.
“When the Speaker of the House and about 20 others from Capitol Hill decide to book their own commercial flights to Afghanistan, the world is going to find out,” an administration official who refused to go on the record told ABC News. “The idea we would leak anything that would put the safety and security of any American at risk is a flat out lie.”…
image…youtube.com
Update…..
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham traveled to Turkey via a commercial airline during the government shutdown as lawmakers in Washington debated Turkey’s role in the ongoing war in Syria. Graham met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday, reportedly to discuss the war in Syria and the proposal to create a “safe zone” in northeastern Syria….
Newsweek…1/18/19…