Trump cancels trip to Poland, says he is staying in the U.S. to monitor Hurricane Dorian


The Washington Post

President Trump announced Thursday that he is canceling a planned trip to Poland and will remain in the United States to monitor Hurricane Dorian, which is headed toward a potential landfall in Florida or elsewhere along the East Coast by early next week.

Vice President Pence will make the trip instead, Trump said.

“It’s something very important for me to be here. The storm looks like it could be a very, very big one indeed,” Trump said in the Rose Garden of the White House during an event focused on the new space command.

Trump was set to travel to Poland this weekend to participate in a World War II commemoration ceremony.

Trump was never enthusiastic about the trip and had already shortened it twice. He abruptly called off the second half of the planned trip, to Denmark, earlier this month.

Then he seemed prepared to pare back the Poland trip too, skipping a planned visit to a Polish military base where U.S. forces serve alongside Polish forces, a U.S. defense official said before Trump’s announcement Thursday.

White House officials had begun discussing the cancellation of the entire trip earlier this week, according to a person briefed on the discussions.

Anne Gearan, Damian Paletta and Matthew Cappucci contributed to this report.