President Donald Trump on Tuesday contradicted the White House’s own explanation for his not visiting a cemetery in northern France to honor American military dead during his recent trip to the country.
The White House initially said that poor weather had precluded flying a helicopter to Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial on Saturday. The President could have taken his motorcade 2.5 hours each way to visit the cemetery, but, according to White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Sunday, the trip by car “would have required closures to substantial portions of the Paris roadways for the President’s motorcade, on short notice.”
“President Trump did not want to cause that kind of unexpected disruption to the city and its people,” Sanders said.
On Tuesday, Trump contradicted that, instead saying the Secret Service rejected his idea of driving.
By the way, when the helicopter couldn’t fly to the first cemetery in France because of almost zero visibility, I suggested driving. Secret Service said NO, too far from airport & big Paris shutdown. Speech next day at American Cemetary in pouring rain! Little reported-Fake News!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2018
TPM has reached out to the White House and Secret Service to reconcile the two statements. Trump later re-sent the tweet, this time with the word “cemetery” spelled correctly
This post has been updated.
