President Trump took congressional Democrats to task for being “on vacation” Saturday, decrying their jaunt to Puerto Rico as the partial government shutdown entered record territory.
He told Jeanine Pirro on her Fox News show, “Justice with Judge Jeanine,” that while he could call a national emergency at the southern border, as he has threatened to be able to take existing funding for the border wall, he does not want to do so.
“I’d rather see the Democrats come back from their vacation and act. They’re not acting, and they’re the ones that are holding it up,” he said. “It would take me 15 minutes to get a deal done, and everybody could go back to work. But I’d like to see them act responsibly, and they’re not acting responsibly, and that’s it. I’m in the White House, and most of them are in different locations. They’re watching a certain musical in a very nice location.”
About 30 Democratic lawmakers flew to Puerto Rico on Friday for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus BOLD PAC winter retreat in San Juan, also attended by more than 100 lobbyists and corporate executives. They are slated to see the hit Broadway musical “Hamilton” and attend a party with the show’s cast, among other events.
The event’s organizers have said the gathering, where lawmakers will meet with officials to discuss ongoing Hurricane Maria cleanup efforts on the island, was planned for months before the shutdown. Thousands died because of the Category 4 storm, which also left more than a million people without electricity, some for nearly a year.
It was not clear which lawmakers went on the junket, but a representative from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office said the California Democrat did not attend. The event came under criticism because lawmakers left on the same day that the roughly 800,000 federal employees affected by the shutdown missed their first paycheck.
Trump said he hasn’t actually left the White House “in many months,” aside from his Christmas week trip to Iraq and Germany to visit troops. Trump was set to accompany his family to his Florida golf club, Mar-a-Lago, but remained in Washington because of the shutdown.
“We have to have border security, and we have to get people being paid again, very quickly,” Trump said.
[Related: Pelosi downplays her Hawaii vacation during the shutdown: ‘Totally unimportant’]
