Congressional Democrats are refusing to respond to inquiries about their holiday whereabouts amid jeers from President Trump that “they chose Hawaii over Washington” during the ongoing partial government shutdown.
Trump worked Wednesday to shift blame for the nearly two-week shutdown, noting that he stayed in Washington during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays while top Democrats left town, including incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who reportedly visited Hawaii.
“I was lonely over the weekend. I was in Washington hoping that we’d see a little action, that I’d get a call and say, ‘Let’s get together and let’s work hard.’ But they chose Hawaii over Washington,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting at the White House Wednesday.
“I was here on Christmas evening. I was all by myself in the White House,” Trump added. “I was hoping that maybe somebody would come back and negotiate, but they didn’t do that.”
Of the six top Democrats in the House and Senate, only the office of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., responded to an inquiry about his holiday travel.
“He was in [New York] with family and new grandson, on the phone with staff, members, and Leader Pelosi constantly,” Schumer spokesman Justin Schumer told the Washington Examiner.
Spokesmen for incoming House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., incoming House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., Senate Assistant Democratic Leader Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., did not respond to repeated requests for comment on how they spent the holidays or whether they worked during that time.
A spokeswoman for Pelosi did not respond to repeated emails and phone calls seeking comment on how she spent her time.
Pelosi spoke with reporters at the White House on Wednesday, after an unproductive meeting with Trump and congressional Republicans, but did not respond to a shouted question about her reported Hawaii trip.
Although Trump originally said he would be “proud” to shut down the government over wall funds, he has since worked to blame Democrats, arguing they are unreasonably denying him his campaign pledge of a border wall, which he says is needed to halt illegal immigrants and drugs.
The partial shutdown over Trump’s demand for $5 billion in wall funding began days before Christmas, scrambling vacation plans for some federal workers deemed “essential” during the impasse.
Nearly 400,000 federal workers are furloughed as a result of the partial shutdown, and on Jan. 11, roughly 800,000 people could miss a paycheck.
Only glimpses of the Democratic leaders’ activities are available for the first 11 days of the shutdown, which entered its 12th full day Wednesday.
Hoyer’s office issued a press release on Friday, Dec. 28, announcing that he met with constituents affected by the shutdown. His office posted an image of the group on Facebook. Later in the day, he appeared on MSNBC in a live shot from the U.S. Capitol.
Murray did not indicate her shutdown whereabouts in a press release, on Facebook, or on Twitter, nor did Clyburn.
Durbin appeared on “Meet the Press” on Dec. 23, filmed in Chicago. On Dec. 28, he tweeted that he was traveling through St. Louis Lambert International Airport, though he did not specify his destination.
Pelosi, meanwhile, reportedly stayed at Hawaii’s luxurious Fairmont Orchid resort, where a standard room starts at $899 a night. The Washington Free Beacon published a photo that it says shows Pelosi in Hawaii on Dec. 27, though she has not commented on the trip.
Pelosi’s reported vacation has helped Trump reframe the shutdown after he caught Washington off-guard by demanding wall funds on the Thursday before a Friday funding deadline, leading to the unexpected showdown over border policy.
Trump canceled plans to spend both Christmas and New Year’s at his Mar-a-Lago resort in South Florida. He traveled to Iraq on Christmas evening, landing there the next day, before returning to the White House.
“He canceled his plans for Christmas, now he’s canceled his plans for New Year’s,” White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said during a recent Fox News appearance. “The president is very heavily engaged in this.”
