President Trump abruptly canceled his planned November parade to honor the military over the expense, but without the benefit of any official cost estimate or recommendation from the Pentagon, a spokesman confirmed Monday.
In fact, the Pentagon’s planning group had not come up with any firm estimate of the costs or alternate options that might have limited the expense.
Trump canceled his dream of Bastille Day-style display of U.S. might marching down Pennsylvania Avenue Friday after reports that the cost, originally estimated to run $10 million to $30 million, had ballooned to as high as $92 million. He cited costs estimates provided by the D.C. City Council, which came out to $21.6 million, mostly spent on policing. The rest of the cost reportedly went toward transporting military equipment and personnel to the Nov. 10 event.
The Pentagon has never confirmed the higher figure, which was first reported by CNBC, and said any estimates that leaked were “pre-decisional.”
No estimate had yet been briefed to either Defense Secretary Jim Mattis or Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford. Mattis laughed off a reporter’s question last week that costs had gone up, then acknowledged this weekend that he had not been briefed on the issue.
“Any pre-decisional numbers were not briefed to the secretary [or] outside of this building by the planning body,” said Col. Rob Manning, a Pentagon spokesman. “No member of the Department of Defense briefed the president on any pre-decisional costs associated with the parade.”
Asked why the president canceled the parade without waiting for the cost figures and recommendations from the Pentagon, Manning referred reporters to the White House
“I can’t tell you why the president canceled, I don’t have that type of insight,” he said.
In a pair of tweets Friday, Trump blamed the local D.C. government for inflating security and other costs to price gouge the taxpayers.
“The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it,” he tweeted. 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.”
In a reply, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser put the cost to the city at $21.6 million and took credit for finally getting through “to the reality star in the White House” with the cost estimate.
[Opinion: America needs no parades to prove its might]
