The White House has defended the decision of Donald Trump to cancel a visit to a First World War cemetery in France. Washington insisted the president didn’t want to generate traffic jams in Paris. The U.S President Trump called off his appearance due to rain, in spite of his schedule to lay a wreath and observe a moment of silence on Saturday at Aisne-Marne American cemetery in the village of Belleau. The White House issued a statement that poor visibility was a major reason for the presidential helicopter.
British Conservative MP Nicolas Soames (the grandson of Winston Churchill) branded the president a “pathetic inadequate”6. A former U.S deputy national security adviser also said that the decision of Trump to remain in Paris was “a remarkable insult” to Americans and allied troops who died in the war. It also raised questions that why the president hadn’t made the 60-mile journey to the cemetery by road instead. The press secretary of the White House, Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that a car ride of two-and-a-half hours, each way, would have required closures to substantial portions of the Paris roadways for the president’s motorcade. So, the U.S President Trump didn’t want to cause unexpected disruption to the city and its people.
The statement also extinguished criticism of Trump who spent much of Saturday at the U.S ambassador’s house in Paris instead of visiting Belleau. The site is a mark of 1918 battle, in which Americans and French defeated German forces. More than 1,800 Americans died during four weeks of fighting in woodland near the village in northern France. It is noteworthy; the president had flown to Paris for events to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War. Deputy national security adviser under former U.S President Barack Obama, Ben Rhodes said that the explanations of the White House regarding canceling the visit made a little sense.