White House, government shutdown
Digest more
Buttigieg, 43, is ticked for another reason. He said that the construction of the ballroom, which White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt admitted was Trump’s “main priority” among renovations, is proof that the billionaire president values having space for swanky dinners more than helping everyday Joe.
Trump said in an interview with Time magazine last week that Israel "would lose all of its support from the United States" if it annexed the already occupied West Bank. His comments came before Israel's parliament voted for an effective annexation of the Palestinian territory.
But as President Donald Trump welcomed Republican senators for lunch in the newly renovated Rose Garden Club — with construction underway on the new White House ballroom — he portrayed a different vision of America as a unified GOP refuses to yield to Democratic demands for health care funds, and the government shutdown drags on.
President Trump on Friday will travel to Asia for his first visit to the region since returning to the White House. The visit comes as the government shutdown hit Day 24 with no end in sight.