President Trump canceled his desired military parade before Pentagon officials briefed him on cost estimates for the event, a Defense Department spokesman said Monday.
“The president was not briefed by any member of the Department of Defense on any cost associated with the parade,” Col. Rob Manning told reporters at the Pentagon.
The statement seems to contradict Trump’s own tweet from Friday morning, in which he claimed he axed the event after receiving a high cost estimate. The parade’s $92 million price tag leaked to the media on Thursday.
“The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it. When asked to give us a price for holding a great celebratory military parade, they wanted a number so ridiculously high that I cancelled it,” he wrote on Twitter.
Trump went on to say that he will instead attend a parade already scheduled at Andrews Air Force Base in May, as well as a parade in Paris celebrating the end of World War I on Nov. 11.
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Manning said at that time that he had not been briefed on figures.
He also said he cannot confirm the $92 million amount, as “the planning had not reached that level.”
“Any figure that was cited was predecisional. The planning committee for the parade had not reached a point where they have briefed senior leadership in the department. It was moving forward, it had just not matured to that point,” Manning said.
The Pentagon on Thursday night put out a statement saying the parade was postponed until 2019.
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Pentagon contradicts Trump, says he canceled military parade before knowing potential cost https://t.co/OPdFj9eqEA pic.twitter.com/iNwyLOE2MY
— The Hill (@thehill) August 20, 2018
So he got his marching orders for Trump as well. “Go out and lie so that I don’t look like I was wrong and people can say I told you so”. What an insecure little boy he is. ”
Once again we are expected to swallow an obvious lie to save face for Trump. He admitted that he cancelled it because of the cost for Pete’s sake they must think we are dumb as rocks.
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