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Trump postpones Nancy Pelosi's 'seven-day excursion' abroad, denies military aircraft for trip after SOTU flap
Alex Wong/Getty Images

Trump postpones Nancy Pelosi's 'seven-day excursion' abroad, denies military aircraft for trip after SOTU flap

The House speaker was scheduled to depart Thursday afternoon

Updated 4:20 p.m.: This story has been updated with a statement from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's spokesman.


President Donald Trump informed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Thursday that her international travel plans had been postponed. The news was delivered to Pelosi in a letter from the president.

Trump told her that her "seven-day excursion" to Brussels, Egypt, and Afghanistan would have to wait until the partial government shutdown is over.

Pelosi's congressional delegation — also knowns as a "CoDel" — was scheduled to depart using military aircraft at 3 p.m. Thursday, according to Fox News' John Roberts.

The New York Times noted that Trump is presumably "refusing to provide military transport that is traditionally provided to the House speaker or congressional delegations."

What did the letter say?

More than 800,000 "great American workers" are not receiving pay, Trump said in the letter that was posted on Twitter by White House press secretary Sarah Sanders.

"I'm sure you would agree that postponing this public relations event is totally appropriate," Trump wrote.

"I also feel that, during this period, it would be better if you were in Washington negotiating with me and joining the Stronger Border Security movement to end the shutdown," he added.

Trump's move to postpone her plans came a day after Pelosi asked Trump to delay his State of the Union address citing security concerns caused by the record-long shutdown. His address is scheduled for Jan. 29.

In is letter Thursday, Trump reminded Pelosi that, if she preferred, she could make her "journey by flying commercial."

"Obviously, if you would like to make your journey by flying commercial, that would certainly be your prerogative," Trump wrote.

What was Pelosi's response?

Pelosi's spokesman Drew Hammill issued a statement on Twitter in response to the postponed travel plans.

Hammill wrote that the trip's purpose "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."

He said the stop in Brussels was to allow the pilot to rest and that the visit to Afghanistan did not include a stop in Egypt.

Then he pointed out, "The President traveled to Iraq during the Trump Shutdown as did Republican CODEL led by Rep. Zeldin."

Trump visited troops in Iraq on Christmas Day, the third day of the shutdown.

What else?

Fox News' Jason Donner tweeted a photo of the Air Force bus where House members were waiting to find out if they would still be traveling overseas after Trump's letter postponing the trip.

According to the Times, Pelosi's scheduled CoDel included at least two other Democratic House members: Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (Calif.) and Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (N.Y.).

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