Politics - News Analysis

Melania Heads Back To Mar-A-Lago Using Secret Service Agents Who Are Working Without Pay

Melania Trump has apparently had enough of an empty White House with her angry husband and is retreating to Mar-a-Lago and taking her now-unpaid Secret Service agents with her.

According to Melania’s spokeswoman, the first lady left Washington, D.C. to go back to her son Barron at the luxury Florida resort owned by her husband. According to CBS 12, Melania flew back to Palm Beach County on Thursday after returning from a surprise trip to Iraq to visit U.S. troops stationed there.

“Mrs. Trump is going back to Florida to be with her son,” said Stephanie Grisham, the first lady’s director of communications.

Melania had already left for Mar-a-Lago when the government shutdown began at the stroke of midnight on Saturday, and returned back to Washington to be with her husband for Christmas. Her return to Mar-a-Lago comes with some controversy as the Secret Service agents assigned with guarding her are now working without pay as part of the thousands of federal employees deemed “essential” who have to work without pay for as long as the shutdown will last.

As due to the stubbornness of her husband, it looks like the shutdown won’t be ending anytime soon.

“Trump said he is prepared to carry out a ‘very long’ shutdown to secure $5 billion in funding for a wall on the U.S. southern border that he had insisted Mexico was supposed to pay for,” noted a report from the Huffington Post. “Although Republicans still control both the House and Senate, they don’t have enough votes for a deal on wall funding without Democrats.”

Melania Trump is not the only one facing criticism for retreating to a luxury vacation spot during the government shutdown. Ivanka Trump and husband, Jared Kushner, also traveled to Mar-a-Lago for Christmas, which prompted criticism from Walter Schaub, who was director of the United States Office of Government Ethics under Barack Obama.

“Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner traveling during the Trump shutdown means Secret Service agents who are not currently receiving paychecks missed Christmas with their families so they could escort wealthy nepotists with no conception of public service,” he wrote on Twitter.

However, it seems that Donald Trump will remain angrily ensconced in the White House, and will miss his fancy New Year’s Eve party at Mar-a-Lago.

Incoming White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said on Friday:

“The president’s been here, by the way, all weekend, all Christmas. He’s staying in Washington, D.C., over New Year’s. He’s canceled his plans for Christmas. Now, he’s canceled his plans for New Year’s.”

Boo-hoo.

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