Donald Trump says he has cancelled plans to spend Christmas at his Florida resort in order to deal with the partial US government shutdown.

The US president tweeted that he was "staying in the White House" as it emerged the federal government is expected to remain partially closed beyond Christmas Day.

The partial shutdown comes after he demanded $5bn (£4bn) to build a wall along the US border with Mexico but Republicans in the Senate failed to secure the votes needed to approve the federal funds.

I will not be going to Florida because of the Shutdown - Staying in the White House! #MAGA — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 22, 2018

The disruption has affected many government operations and the routines of 800,000 federal employees.

Roughly 420,000 workers were deemed essential and were expected to work unpaid, while an additional 380,000 were to be furloughed, meaning they will stay home without pay.


Mr Trump had been scheduled to travel to his Mar-a-Lago resort with his family for the end of year holidays.

Image: Donald Trump was due to travel to Mar-a-Lago resort

US First Lady Melania Trump was flying back to Washington to be with her husband.

On Saturday, Mr Trump was hit by yet another resignation after the top US official in the fight against Islamic State quit over the president's decision to withdraw American troops from Syria

Brett McGurk resigned as US special envoy for the global coalition to defeat IS, saying it was "reckless" to consider the terror group defeated and bring American forces home.

Image: Brett McGurk quit as US envoy to the coalition against Islamic State

He follows US defence secretary Jim Mattis who also announced he was leaving his post after clashing with the president over the issue.

In a series of posts on Twitter, Mr Trump suggested Mr McGurk was a "grandstander" for quitting now when he was already due to leave in February.

"Brett McGurk, who I do not know, was appointed by President Obama in 2015," Mr Trump tweeted.

"Was supposed to leave in February but he just resigned prior to leaving. Grandstander?

"The Fake News is making such a big deal about this nothing event!"

Mr Trump also claimed he had given Gen Mattis a "second chance" after the ex-defence secretary was "ingloriously fired" as head of US Central Command by Mr Obama in 2013.

"Some thought I shouldn't, I thought I should," Mr Trump said.

"Interesting relationship - but I also gave all of the resources that he never really had.

"Allies are very important - but not when they take advantage of U.S."

Mr Trump's tweet appears to hit back at the resignation letter of Gen Mattis, who had said his "core belief" was the US needs to show allies respect and that it should be unambiguous with nations like Russia and China.