President Donald Trump announced Friday that he has canceled a planned military parade in Washington, accusing “local politicians” of price gouging and announcing that the government will redirect funds from the parade to the purchase of additional fighter jets.
“The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it,” Trump wrote on Twitter Friday morning. “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. Never let someone hold you up!”
CNBC reported Thursday that the expected cost of Trump’s planned parade had ballooned to $92 million, significantly higher than previous estimates of $12 million and $30 million.
Shortly after CNBC published its reporting, the Pentagon announced that the parade had been postponed. The Defense Department did not offer a reason for the change of plans but said it had “agreed to explore opportunities in 2019.”
Trump initially ordered the Defense Department last February to begin the process of planning a military parade, to be held in Washington on Veterans Day, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. The president first suggested a U.S. military parade after attending the Bastille Day parade in Paris last summer.
“I will instead attend the big parade already scheduled at Andrews Air Force Base on a different date, & go to the Paris parade, celebrating the end of the War, on November 11th,” the president wrote online on Friday morning. “Maybe we will do something next year in D.C. when the cost comes WAY DOWN. Now we can buy some more jet fighters!”