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Fox News' John Roberts reports that Pelosi was scheduled to depart at 3 p.m., just 30 minutes after the letter was released.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has become a vocal supporter of Trump's calls for a border wall, tweeted: "One sophomoric response does not deserve another. 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."

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President Donald Trump put the kibosh on the congressional delegation traveling to Afghanistan for a classified briefing from commanders on the ground. At the same time, however, the first lady is flying to her husband’s resort in Florida.

Politico Playbook writer Jake Sherman was listening to air traffic control and noted that EXEC1F was headed to Palm Beach airport.

“EXEC1F appears to be headed to Palm Beach. ATC just said they will have to do some serious vectoring to get the plane in line with the rest of the Palm Beach traffic,” he tweeted. “EXEC1F is typically the callsign for a plane with the first lady on it.”

I am listening to air traffic control

EXEC1F appears to be headed to Palm Beach. ATC just said they will have to do some serious vectoring to get the plane in line with the rest of the Palm Beach traffic.

EXEC1F is typically the callsign for a plane with the first lady on it.

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) January 17, 2019

The president went on his own trip to Afghanistan during the first part of the shutdown and Republican members also went to the war zone after the president. When it came to Democrats, however, the president blocked the trip, claiming the shutdown was more important.

Top White House aides are also flying to Davos next week to appear at the conference of the uber-rich. The president was scheduled to attend but he’s only sending his staff.

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s chief of staff took to Twitter Thursday to explain her top-secret trip to a war zone in Afghanistan after President Trump postponed the trip by refusing to let her use a military plane.

“This weekend visit to Afghanistan did not include a stop in Egypt,” Drew Hammill wrote on Twitter, correcting the president’s claim that Pelosi and other lawmakers were planning to visit the Mideast country as well.

“The purpose of the trip was to express appreciation & thanks to our men & women in uniform for their service & dedication, & to obtain critical national security & intelligence briefings from those on the front lines,” Hammil wrote.

The canceled visit was known as a codel trip — which means details are kept under wraps until the plane lands safely.

“The CODEL to Afghanistan included a required stop in Brussels for pilot rest. In Brussels, the delegation was scheduled to meet with top NATO commanders, US military leaders and key allies–to affirm the United States’ ironclad commitment to the NATO alliance,” he continued in a series of posts.

He didn’t directly attack Trump — but insinuated that he was being hypocritical because he flew to Iraq during the shutdown.

“The President traveled to Iraq during the Trump Shutdown as did a Republican CODEL led by Rep. Zeldin,” Hammill added.

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President Trump has canceled the U.S. delegation’s upcoming trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, “out of consideration” for furloughed Americans amid the partial government shutdown, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement Thursday.

“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," the statement read.

The announcement is a change of plans from earlier this week, when on Tuesday the White House announced that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin would lead the delegation in Switzerland. Delegation members included Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, among others. The group was going to attend the summit from Jan. 22 through Jan. 25, the White House said.

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A day after President Trump canceled military flights for a planned congressional trip to Afghanistan, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi abandoned her plans to travel instead on commercial flights due to security concerns.

Drew Hammill, a spokesman for Pelosi (D-Calif.), blamed the Trump administration in a written statement for disclosing news of the trip, which included several other House Democrats, and thus increasing the danger to lawmakers.

“After President Trump revoked the use of military aircraft to travel to Afghanistan, the delegation was prepared to fly commercially to proceed with this vital trip to meet with our commanders and troops on the front lines,” Hammill said.

Overnight, he added, a new State Department threat assessment indicated “that the President announcing this sensitive travel had significantly increased the danger to the delegation and to the troops, security, and other officials supporting the trip. . . . This morning, we learned that the Administration had leaked the commercial travel plans as well.”

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Originally posted by pianojuggler:
I know this is really late to bring up ... on page three already ... but I just want to say that I am not going make a copycat thread.

quote:

Originally posted by pianojuggler:
I know this is really late to bring up ... on page three already ... but I just want to say that I am not going make a copycat thread.