U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he had canceled his planned military parade scheduled for November and would instead visit Paris on November 11 to commemorate Veterans Day.
On Thursday, the Defense Department said it had postponed the event until at least next year.
The parade was originally conceived to mark the centenary of the end of World War One, on November 11.
Earlier some reports emerged that the event could cost 92 million U.S. dollars, more than three times the price fist suggested by the White House.
Trump blamed "local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly)" for the delay in tweets on Friday, saying the cost was “ridiculously high” and they “know a windfall when they see it.”
Trump decided he wanted a military parade in Washington after he attended France’s Bastille Day celebration in the center of Paris last year.
As the guest of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, Trump watched enthusiastically from a reviewing stand as the French military showcased its tanks and fighter jets, including many U.S.-made planes, along with the famed Champs-Elysees.
Several months later Trump praised the French parade, saying: "We’re going to have to try and top it."
