President Donald J. Trump canceled the US delegation’s trip to the global economic summit in Davos hours after he denied House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a plane to visit US troops in Afghanistan.
“Out of consideration for the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay and to ensure his team can assist as needed, President Trump has canceled his delegation’s trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said on Thursday in a statement.
Trump personally made the decision to cancel the Davos trip on Thursday afternoon, two White House officials said. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was to lead the delegation, which was also to include Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Trump had planned to attend but previously canceled his own travel to the event because of the shutdown. Federal money typically already would have been spent on advance preparations for the cabinet secretaries’ trip.
Trump informed Pelosi earlier Thursday that she couldn’t use a military plane to visit Afghanistan barely an hour before she was to depart, saying she should stay in Washington to negotiate.
Trump’s abrupt cancellation of the speaker’s trip escalated an increasingly personal clash between the White House and congressional Democrats. Pelosi on Wednesday suggested Trump consider postponing his State of the Union address to Congress until after the shutdown is resolved or deliver it in writing.
Several Democratic members of Congress swiftly criticized Mnuchin for proceeding with plans to go to the Swiss ski resort to meet with the financial elite and heads of state while Trump was preventing the speaker from visiting US troops in a war zone.
Pelosi hadn’t announced her trip, which likely wouldn’t have been made public in advance for her security. She had planned to depart Thursday afternoon, according to a person with knowledge of her itinerary.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal summoned Mnuchin on Thursday for a hearing on the economic impact of the shutdown on January 24, when he was scheduled to depart Davos.
The absence of a US delegation at Davos is a sharp contrast to last year when Trump was the first US president to visit the conference in 18 years, and the White House sent a large group of cabinet secretaries and top White House aides. Trump was embraced warmly by CEOs and business leaders at the event after signing into law a major reduction in US corporate income tax rates.
Trump’s cancellation of Pelosi’s trip to Afghanistan outraged Democrats, who questioned whether he had the authority to control congressional travel.
“We believe this is completely inappropriate by the president,” said House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, who intended to accompany Pelosi. “As far as we can tell this hasn’t happened in the annals of congressional history.”
Image credits: Gian Ehren zeller/Keystone via AP