So far, President Donald Trump has been uncharacteristically quiet in response to Nancy Pelosi's letter. | Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images Government Shutdown Trump strikes back at Pelosi as shutdown fight hits new low The president abruptly yanks Pelosi's international trip after she pulled a power play by postponing his SOTU address.

An end to the government shutdown looked more distant than ever on Thursday after President Donald Trump abruptly canceled Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s planned visit to Afghanistan.

The White House publicly released a terse letter informing Pelosi that her planned travel had been “postponed,” shortly after Trump ordered the Pentagon to cancel her Air Force flight to the country. A bus carrying several House Democrats who were to accompany Pelosi was preparing to leave for the airport at the time.


The extraordinary affront appeared to be payback for Pelosi's request that Trump postpone his annual State of the Union address, scheduled for Jan. 29, though White House officials insisted it wasn’t a tit-for-tat. Pelosi, in her Wednesday letter to Trump, suggested that the partial government shutdown, soon to enter its second month, would create security concerns — a claim the Trump administration contested.

The dueling moves further personalized the shutdown standoff, which centers on Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion to fund a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border, and suggested that a Trump-Pelosi relationship that has stayed more or less cordial might be plunging into open hostility.

That could make it even more difficult for the president and his House Democratic rival to strike some kind of face-saving bargain that would resume paychecks for 800,000 federal employees — and many more contract workers — who have not been paid in weeks.

"Due to the Shutdown, I am sorry to inform you that your trip to Brussels, Egypt, and Afghanistan has been postponed," Trump wrote in his letter to Pelosi. "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." Pelosi’s delegation was actually scheduled to return Tuesday, after only six days of travel.

In his letter, the president called on Pelosi to remain in Washington during the shutdown, adding that lawmakers are welcome to travel abroad on commercial flights.

Despite Trump's decision to cancel the congressional trip, First Lady Melania Trump appeared to be traveling to Palm Beach, Florida, on a military plane soon after the president released the letter, according to amateur flight trackers. The first lady’s spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment.

Democrats said they were blindsided by the letter, which the White House sent to reporters and which White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders posted on Twitter.

Budget negotiations between the White House and Democratic leaders have virtually ceased and there are no signs of a compromise on the horizon. The 27-day partial shutdown, which has closed nine of 15 federal departments, is now the longest in U.S. history.

On Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, traveled to Capitol Hill to meet with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

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The president has generally avoided direct attacks on Pelosi, whom aides said he begrudgingly respects. But Thursday's letter signaled that Trump will no longer soften his tone toward the House speaker.

White House officials insisted that the letter was not a response to Pelosi's call to cancel the State of the Union but rather an effort to ensure that talks to end the shutdown are not delayed. Trump aides said there were no plans to postpone the State of the Union speech at this time.

"She wasn't scheduled to be back until Wednesday. The president wants her here to negotiate," Sanders told reporters, although Pelosi was scheduled to get back on Tuesday. Sanders added that federal workers are guaranteed to miss another paycheck if the shutdown isn't over by midway through next week.

The White House blasted out its letter to Pelosi shortly after 2 p.m — about an hour before Pelosi and other Democrats planned to depart for the six-day trip, according to a person familiar with the situation. Reporters were the first to inform lawmakers about the missive.

The scene around the Capitol quickly devolved into a circus-like atmosphere as reporters chased a charter bus with lawmakers on board who were supposed to join Pelosi on the trip overseas.

A crew of cameras and reporters, many without coats in the frigid temperatures, joined in on the impromptu stakeout as the bus idled outside a House office building before driving onto the Capitol grounds only to depart again to do a lap past the Senate offices and the Supreme Court.

The chaotic scene played out more than 24 hours after Pelosi sent her own letter to Trump, requesting he postpone the State of the Union. Senior aides had initially made a strategic decision to hold off on responding, according to people familiar with the matter.

A White House official said Trump decided to hit back "on his terms and timeline." Defending the decision to wait more than a day to respond, the official said, "Why does it merit an immediate or serious response? It's her suggestion."

A second White House official said Trump had canceled all congressional delegations abroad — often dubbed "codels" — because of the shutdown, blocking members’ use of military aircraft. Eventually, the White House also axed a delegation of top staffers, including several Cabinet heads, to the Davos economic forum in Switzerland. Officials had initially signaled the trip was still on earlier in the day.

In halting Pelosi's travel, Trump revealed an itinerary that was known to very few people before Thursday due to security concerns. The White House official referred questions about whether the administration had breached protocol or threatened Pelosi’s security by publicly revealing her trip to Afghanistan to the Defense Department.

Even Republican Rep. Steve Scalise’s reveal that Pelosi was going to Brussels had angered Democrats, who worried it would result in the Afghanistan trip leaking. Pelosi's deputy chief of staff, Drew Hammill, said on Twitter that the Brussels stop was required for pilot rest and that her group had planned to meet with top NATO commanders there "to affirm the United States’ ironclad commitment to the NATO alliance."

Hammill added that the group was not planning to make a stop in Egypt on the trip, despite the president's letter mentioning the cancellation of a trip to that country.

"The purpose of the trip was to express appreciation & thanks to our men & women in uniform for their service & dedication," Hammill tweeted.

Trump previously made a surprise shutdown visit to Iraq around Christmas, just days after the government initially partially closed over the border wall funding squabble. Hammill also noted that a Republican codel led by Rep. Lee Zeldin went to several Middle East countries shortly before the new year.

The unexpected letter was met with scorn from some in Trump's party. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a key Trump ally who chairs the Judiciary Committee, expressed exasperation on Twitter.

"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."

“It’s like tit-for-tat,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), “and I thought what she did was petty and vindictive and this certainly doesn’t elevate the debate.”

In Afghanistan, government staffers were not necessarily thrilled about the pending trip, according to a person familiar with the planning process.

“A lot of people here were very pissed off about this trip,” the person told POLITICO. “Foreign Service Officers have been working overtime for two weeks on this trip for no pay, and [Pelosi] was set to arrive on a holiday weekend. And after the letter she wrote to the White House yesterday it seemed like hypocrisy.”

The codel would have included seven Democrats, according to the person. In addition to Pelosi, three House chairmen were set to join: Rep. Adam Schiff, who leads the intelligence panel, Rep. Eliot Engel, who heads foreign affairs, and Rep. Mark Takano, who runs the veterans' affairs panel.

Before Thursday afternoon, the only formal response to Pelosi from the administration came in a Wednesday tweet from Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who insisted that her department and the U.S. Secret Service are "fully prepared to support and secure" the annual event, which brings together the highest-ranking officials from all three branches of government.

Privately, administration officials dismissed Pelosi's contention that the government shutdown complicates efforts to secure the event. Officials noted that many Secret Service agents and senior DHS staffers are still on the job, working without pay.

They believe the House speaker overreached in calling for the speech to either be delayed or delivered in writing, and they are confident they have the support of Republicans in Congress to continue on with the State of the Union speech.

As of Thursday morning, it remained unclear how Trump and Pelosi might resolve the State of the Union standoff. Although her letter technically framed the call for a delay as a request, not a demand, Pelosi has the final say on whether the speech can take place. Pelosi told reporters earlier Thursday that she had not heard anything from the White House, and added that Jan. 29 — when the speech had been scheduled — “is not a sacred date.”

A handful of Republicans have floated the idea of inviting Trump to hold the State of the Union address in the Senate, though GOP members have generally dismissed the idea.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) both suggested that McConnell invite the president to deliver the annual address, with Brooks circulating a letter that so far has collected 28 cosponsors.

John Bresnahan, Lorraine Woellert, Sarah Ferris and Burgess Everett contributed to this report.