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Trump Cancels Military Parade, Blaming Washington Officials for Inflating Costs Citing Costs, Trump Retreats From Massive Military Parade in Capital
(about 5 hours later)
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Friday canceled plans for a military parade this fall in Washington, blaming local officials for inflating the costs and saying they “know a windfall when they see it.” WASHINGTON — President Trump on Friday officially surrendered his order for a massive military parade in the nation’s capital, as spiraling costs rendered his vision of a Veterans Day extravaganza too expensive to justify.
Washington’s mayor, Muriel E. Bowser, pushed back on Twitter, saying that she had “finally got thru” to the president to convey the “realities” of what it costs to stage events like military parades in the city. Mr. Trump sought to blame local government officials in Washington for inflating the price of the parade “so ridiculously high that I cancelled it” — a charge they swiftly rejected.
Ms. Bowser put the number at $21.6 million, though the city’s costs are just a fraction of the total, with federal agencies also kicking in millions of dollars. A day earlier, the Pentagon said Mr. Trump’s parade to celebrate the military could be postponed to 2019, as officials acknowledged that the event could cost more than $90 million. “Maybe we will do something next year in D.C. when the cost comes WAY DOWN,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter. “Now we can buy some more jet fighters!”
The parade, which was never widely embraced, was initially scheduled for Nov. 10 — Veterans Day weekend — of this year. Several administration officials described a sort of sticker shock after seeing a Pentagon estimate that soared as high as $92 million to pay for the troops, fighter jets, armored vehicles and other military hardware that would be mustered to satisfy the president’s dream of displaying American might.
While the District of Columbia would incur only about a quarter of the parade’s estimated cost, the city, a Democratic bastion where Mr. Trump is nearly universally unpopular, is an easy target for him. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis disputed the $92 million estimate, telling journalists who were flying with him on Thursday to Bogotá, Colombia, “I’m not dignifying that number with a reply.”
In a pair of tweets, Mr. Trump allowed for the possibility of a parade in 2019. He said that this year he would instead attend another parade planned at Joint Base Andrews and a military parade in Paris. But two Defense Department officials said the White House chief of staff, John F. Kelly, reacting to news reports about the expected high cost, ordered the Pentagon on Thursday night to issue a statement delaying the parade until 2019 at the earliest. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the communications.
The president also took a jab at the local government in Washington, saying the city is “poorly” run. Ms. Bowser, a Democrat, hit back, mocking the president by ending her tweet with a parenthetical “sad” — a word Mr. Trump often uses in his own tweets — and calling him “the reality star in the White House.” By Friday morning, Mr. Trump essentially accused the capital city’s government of price gouging. Local officials, he said on Twitter, “know a windfall when they see it.”
According to a cost breakdown provided by the city to The New York Times, 18 local agencies would share the cost of the $21.6 million price tag, including more than $13 million for the Metropolitan Police Department for security measures. The city is typically reimbursed for such expenses by the federal government. Responding in a tweet of her own, Washington’s mayor, Muriel E. Bowser, said she was “the local politician who finally got thru to the reality star in the White House” so that he would understand the “realities” of the expense of the kind of parade he wanted. She estimated it at $21.6 million in city spending alone.
Eleanor Holmes Norton, the district’s nonvoting Democratic delegate to the House, said Washington officials were not to blame and called the parade “unnecessary.” A cost breakdown provided by the city to The New York Times showed that 18 local agencies would share the cost of the $21.6 million price tag, including more than $13 million for the Metropolitan Police Department for security measures.
The costs that would be incurred by Washington represent about 23 percent of the total, according to officials’ estimates. That would leave about $70 million that federal agencies would need to cover — agencies that the president oversees directly. The City of Washington is typically reimbursed for such expenses by the federal government. The Defense Department had been expected to spend an additional $50 million on personnel, aircraft and other military hardware, officials said.
Estimates are often based on past costs for similar parades. For the 2017 inauguration, which included a parade, officials estimated that it would cost the city $20 million, according to The Washington Post. Federal agencies put up millions of dollars, as well. Most of the costs are security-related expenses. Most of the balance of the costs would cover security provided by other government agencies. Estimates earlier this year put the parade price tag at between $10 million and $30 million.
Mr. Trump, who enjoys military history, called last year for a parade of troops, tanks, jets and other equipment to pass through the streets of the nation’s capital. Early cost estimates for the fanfare ranged from $10 million to $30 million; CNBC first reported the new $90 million figure. Mr. Trump has been enamored with the idea of military convoys marching through Washington since his presidency’s infancy. The committee planning his inaugural ceremony reportedly explored, but rejected, using military equipment in the traditional parade from the Capitol to the White House after Mr. Trump was sworn in.
On Thursday, Jim Mattis, the secretary of defense, dismissed reports of a cost estimate of more than $90 million, saying, “I guarantee you there’s been no cost estimate.” But in July 2017, Mr. Trump witnessed the grandeur of a military parade at the annual Bastille Day celebration in Paris, and told Mr. Mattis on the way home that he wanted one, too.
The president suggested that the money the government would save could go toward purchasing more military jets, though that funding would not go far. For example, the Air Force version of the new F-35 fighter jet costs about $94 million. Mr. Mattis, by all accounts of military aides and other officials close to him, was less taken with the plan. But he chooses his battles with Mr. Trump carefully and obeyed his marching orders.
Mr. Trump was impressed by a Bastille Day parade that he attended in Paris in July 2017. The city is scheduled to hold its annual Armistice Day parade in November. It was not immediately clear which parade the president plans to attend at Andrews. When presented with the reports of the $92 million price tag, the Pentagon chief forcefully pushed back.
The president had hoped to have military tanks and jets at his own inauguration parade, but he was told he could not. “Whoever told you that is smoking something that’s legal in my state — but not in most states,” Mr. Mattis, who is from Washington State, where recreational marijuana is legal, told the journalists on his government plane to Colombia.
It was an unusually strong denial from a career military man who is widely regarded as among the most apolitical and evenhanded officials in Mr. Trump’s small circle of top advisers.
As it turned out, it was also wrong.
At the time Mr. Mattis was speaking to the journalists, he had not yet received the range of estimated costs for the parade, according to Col. Robert Manning, a Pentagon press secretary. Neither had Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Colonel Manning said.
The last time a similar parade was held in Washington was in 1991, celebrating the end of the Persian Gulf War. It cost about $12 million, or about $22 million in today’s dollars.The last time a similar parade was held in Washington was in 1991, celebrating the end of the Persian Gulf War. It cost about $12 million, or about $22 million in today’s dollars.
Mr. Trump’s dream of a military parade with tanks barreling down the streets and fighter jets flying above him has faced resistance. Critics have said these parades typically mark a victory in a war. Others have said it may not be the best use of the Defense Department’s money. Denise Rohan, the national commander of the American Legion, said the money that would have been spent on Mr. Trump’s Veterans Day ceremony would be put to better use aiding veterans and active-duty troops, “until such time as we can celebrate victory in the war on terrorism and bring our military home.”
The parade was initially scheduled for Nov. 10, during Veterans Day weekend. Instead, administration officials said, Mr. Trump now plans to return to Paris on Veterans Day to attend an Armistice Day celebration in France, complete with an enormous military parade.
This year, Armistice Day celebrates the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.
In one of his tweets on Friday, Mr. Trump allowed for the possibility of a military parade in 2019. He also wants to attend the Andrews Air Show in May 2019, which takes place at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington, the home to Air Force One.
The air show features displays of modern air-fighting machines, performances by the Air Force Thunderbirds and other planes, and other military exhibitions.
Retreating from his parade plans, the president also took a jab at the local government in Washington, saying the city is “poorly” run. Ms. Bowser is a Democrat, and the city’s residents voted overwhelmingly for Mr. Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton, in 2016.