House Democrats and the media are in a snit this morning over Donald Trump’s postponement of a trip to Belgium, Afghanistan, and Egypt by a Democratic congressional delegation. Many are claiming the move on the president’s part was a low blow, especially his timing: He alerted Speaker Nancy Pelosi that he was denying her and her colleagues the use of an Air Force plane half an hour before it was scheduled to take off.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff was one of the group who was already on the bus outside the Capitol when word arrived that the trip was off.
Members including House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff getting off the bus in front of the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/G6JMtVCg8h
— Jason Donner (@jason_donner) January 17, 2019
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After disembarking, Schiff told reporters that “the president … acted like he’s in the fifth grade.”
While Trump’s behavior does seem like a quid pro quo following Pelosi’s postponement of his State of the Union address, one could argue he was doing her and the other Dems a favor. They were, after all, heading out of the country in the midst of a government shutdown, which is really bad optics.
A spokesman for Pelsoi stated via Twitter that this was an important trip in which the speaker would have been consulting with NATO higher-ups about the Syria withdrawal and that her visit would have been a morale boost to troops. But a Twitter thread by Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, suggests the trip was not envisioned as all work:
DOD advised Pelosi military aircraft request could not be met and offered to help secure commercial travel. Pelosi staffer responds: “We appreciate the efforts to help the codel [sic] fly commercially but you know the problem that creates with spouses…” https://t.co/ukl1uo4jDc
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) January 18, 2019
Spouses? Yes, it turns out that spouses can fly for free on military planes, which is why the same Pelosi staffer said in a different email that “we will have some very disappointed folks, as well as a very upset [s]peaker.”
In a separate email, when told a certain type of luxury Air Force aircraft would not be available, Pelosi staffer writes, “This is not good news, and we will have some very disappointed folks, as well as a very upset [s]peaker.”
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) January 18, 2019
Fitton notes elsewhere in the thread that Pelosi and company had been fully prepared on past CoDels:
Purchases for one Pelosi-led CODEL on May 15-20, 2008 included: Johnny Walker Red scotch, Grey Goose vodka, E&J brandy, Bailey’s Irish Crème, Maker’s Mark whiskey, Courvoisier cognac, Bacardi Light rum, Jim Beam whiskey, Beefeater gin, Dewar’s scotch, Bombay Sapphire gin…
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) January 18, 2019
Not only that, but there have been quite a few such trips:
.@SpeakerPelosi used the Air Force aircraft for a total of 85 trips, covering 206,264 miles, from March 2, 2009 through June 7, 2010. Pelosi, her guests and Air Force personnel logged a total of 428.6 hours on these flights.
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) January 18, 2019
