Pelosi accuses White House of leaking information about Afghanistan trip

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused the White House of leaking information about her planned congressional trip to Afghanistan, creating increased security concerns on the ground — a move she called "very irresponsible on the part of the president."

Pelosi's comments Friday came after President Donald Trump cancelled the military plane that had been booked to take a congressional delegation to Afghanistan for the previously undisclosed troop visit. Trump suggested she travel by commercial plane instead.

Pelosi said she planned to do just that but was thwarted after the administration leaked that information. She said the State Department reported that the president "outing" the original trip made the scene on the ground in Afghanistan "more dangerous because it's a signal to the bad actors that we're coming."

The White House has denied leaking Pelosi's backup plan to fly commercially and says it leaked nothing that would cause a security risk.

Pelosi and Trump are at an impasse over funding Trump wants for a U.S.-Mexico border wall. The partial government shutdown reached its 28th day on Friday.

Trump later said he will make a major announcement on the government shutdown and the southern border on Saturday afternoon from the White House.

More than the usual back-and-forth

It was the latest turn — and potentially the most dangerous — in the high-stakes brinkmanship between Trump and Pelosi, playing out against the stalled negotiations over how to end the partial government shutdown.

And it showed once again the willingness of the former hard-charging businessman to hit hard when challenged, as he was earlier this week when Pelosi suggested postponing his State of the Union address during the shutdown.

Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, said it "gives new meaning" to tensions between the executive and legislative branches.

"There are public back and forths," he said, citing relations between past presidents and House speakers. "But this kind of tension, preventing the Speaker from visiting the troops and the Speaker suggesting the White House leaked information about a crucial flight, this is one more example of where Trumpism brings us into new territory."

The political stakes are high as the shutdown moves into a fifth week, with hundreds of thousands of federal workers going without pay and no outward signs of resolution.

Trump is demanding money from Congress to build his long-promised border wall with Mexico. But Congress has not approved the funds.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders stressed the importance of a looming Tuesday deadline to process paycheques, when the government will need to decide whether workers get another round of zeroes on Friday's payday.

"One of the key reasons that the president did not want Speaker Pelosi to leave the country is because, if she did, it would all but guarantee the fact that the negotiations couldn't take place over the weekend," Sanders told reporters.

No talks, though, are scheduled.

Next week, House Democrats will pass bills to try to fund the government, including one adding $1 billion US to border security — to hire 75 immigration judges and improve infrastructure. The Senate, controlled by Republicans, has declined to consider any bills unless Trump is prepared to sign them into law.