The Veterans Day military parade slated for this fall in Washington, D.C. has been cancelled, with President Donald Trump saying it may be rescheduled for next year "when the cost comes WAY DOWN."
Pentagon spokesman Col. Rob Manning said the Department of Defense and the White House "have now agreed to explore opportunities in 2019," the Associated Press reports.
A recent report on the planned parade said it would cost an estimated $92 million.
The president was inspired to have such a parade in the nation's capital after being a guest at the Bastille Day Parade in Paris last year, where American and French troops marched.
Trump responded Friday morning on Twitter, saying he expects the price tag on the parade to come down next year. He added he would instead attend a parade at nearby Andrews Air Force Base on another date and attend a parade in Paris on Nov. 11, the date of Veterans Day in the U.S. annually and this year, the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.
"The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it," Trump tweeted. "When asked to give us a price for holding a great celebratory military parade, they wanted a number so ridiculously high that I cancelled it. Never let someone hold you up!"
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1030423480725118976
"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," Trump continued. "Maybe we will do something next year in D.C. when the cost comes WAY DOWN. Now we can buy some more jet fighters!"
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1030426536871116801