Trump Cancels Military Parade Citing Inflated Costs

President Donald Trump talks to the media before leaving to Bedminster, N.J., at the White House in Washington on Aug. 17, 2018. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

President Donald Trump canceled a military parade which was originally planned for Nov. 11 this year and blamed local Washington politicians for proposing a “ridiculously high” price tag for the event.

Trump asked the Department of Defense to plan a parade last year after witnessing a Bastille Day military parade in France in July.

On Aug. 16, a U.S. official said the event could cost over $90 million. Later in the day, the Defense Department postponed the event till next year.

“The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it. When asked to give us a price for holding a great celebratory military parade, they wanted a number so ridiculously high that I canceled it. Never let someone hold you up!” Trump wrote on Twitter on Aug. 17.

“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. Maybe we will do something next year in D.C. when the cost comes WAY DOWN. Now we can buy some more jet fighters!” the president added.

A spokeswoman at Joint Base Andrews did not provide a date for the event.

Military parades in the United States are rare and historically have been used to mark the end of a military conflict. In 1991, tanks and thousands of troops paraded through Washington to celebrate the end of the Gulf War.

Reuters contributed to this report.