U.S. President Donald Trump paid for a White House feast for the visiting Clemson Tigers during the ongoing government shutdown on Jan. 14.
With the White House chefs furloughed as Trump fights with Congress over funding the federal government, Trump catered “great American food” for the winners of the U.S. college football championship.
Serving platters in the State Dining Room were heaped high with McDonald’s quarter pounders and the red-and-white burger wrappers from Wendy’s.
“We have pizzas, we have 300 hamburgers, many, many french fries, all of our favorite foods,” Trump told reporters, as one White House worker still on the job lit tapered candles.
“I want to see what’s here when we leave, because I don’t think it’s going to be much,” Trump said, before the players, dressed in dapper suits, flooded the room and piled their plates high.
About a quarter of the federal government has been shut down for the past 24 days after Trump dug in on a campaign pledge to build a wall on the southern border with Mexico, demanding $5.7 billion from Congress for the project. Democrats have rejected his demand.
Trump told the players afterward that he did not want to postpone the event until after the shutdown—which is already the longest in history—ended.
