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Bad timing: Shutdown threat shadows Trump 1-year festivities
WASHINGTON (AP) — Talk about lousy timing.
President Donald Trump had hoped to spend the weekend celebrating the one-year anniversary of his inauguration. Now, he's facing a potential government shutdown.
Trump scrapped plans to depart Friday for his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, where he was to attend a high-dollar fundraiser Saturday night.
Instead, he spent the afternoon in the Oval Office, trying to stave off the shutdown.
By late afternoon, it remained unclear whether a deal would be reached, and whether the president would head for Florida on Saturday.
But the timing was undeniably unfortunate for a president trying to steer the conversation away from controversy and back to his first-year accomplishments.
"We hope that everyone comes together and keeps the government open," White House adviser Kellyanne Conway told reporters moments before Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer left the White House after meeting with Trump on Friday.
Trump was originally scheduled to attend a "Trump Victory Dinner" Saturday night at Mar-a-Lago, with proceeds going to a joint fundraising committee for his re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee. That was up in the air as the budget negotiations dragged on.
If a deal isn't reached by midnight, the reverberations will be felt across Washington, all over the nation — and within the White House residence.
According to federal stipulations, just 21 of the 96 members of the White House residential staff would report to duty on any day of a shutdown.
"Essentially, our core group of residence staff would still report to work to ensure that basic services are still provided to the first family," said Stephanie Grisham, a spokeswoman for first lady Melania Trump.
Electricians and engineers would also report for duty "to ensure the safety of the facilities in the mansion," Grisham said.
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Follow Colvin on Twitter at https://twitter.com/colvinj
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