Melania Trump ABANDONS husband for Christmas – POTUS to remain in DC amid CRISIS shutdown

US President Donald Trump will remain in Washington throughout Christmas. He will stay there because of a crisis government “shutdown”, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders confirmed on Saturday. The US government shutdown was triggered on Saturday in response to a border wall funding row.

Trump had been scheduled to travel to his Florida resort with Mrs Trump for the end of year holidays but said on Friday he would stay in Washington if he and lawmakers failed to strike a budget deal to avert a partial government shutdown.

The President wanted $5billion (£3.9billion) to fund his controversial wall down the Mexican border.

But the bill did not pass the Senate, making a shutdown “inevitable”.

The First Lady’s spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham told CNN: “It has long been the family’s tradition to spend their Christmas holiday at Mar-a-Lago.

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“Her plans to travel with her son to their Florida home for his winter break have not changed this year.”

Mrs Trump is now expected to have arrived at the Florida resort with her 12-year-old son, Barron.

It was not immediately clear how long the two would spend in Florida.

Because she is a member of the first family, Melania Trump must fly on government aircraft, which is operated by the military.

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An official familiar with the plans told CNN the President may still make the trip at a later time.

Trump had planned to spend 16 days at the Florida golf club resort, which he has dubbed the “winter White House”.

His initial plans had him returning to the capital January 6, three days after Democrats retake the majority in the House.

However, the chaos in Washington has meant Trump cannot travel to be with his wife for Christmas this year.