Trump wants military parade in
Washington: Washington Post
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[February 07, 2018]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.
President Donald Trump has ordered Pentagon and White House officials to
begin planning a military parade in Washington similar to the Bastille
Day parade he witnessed in Paris in July, the Washington Post reported
on Tuesday.
At a meeting at the Pentagon on Jan. 18 that included Defense Secretary
Jim Mattis and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Joseph Dunford,
Trump said he wanted a military parade, the Post reported, citing a
military official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"The marching orders were: I want a parade like the one in France," the
military official said, according to the Post. "This is being worked at
the highest levels of the military," the official added.
After the Post published its story, the White House issued a statement
that said Trump "has asked the Department of Defense to explore a
celebration at which all Americans can show their appreciation."
A White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the
parade planning was in the "brainstorming" stage and nothing had been
decided, the Post reported.
The Pentagon was aware of a request for a parade but was only just
starting to explore possibilities, including on timing, a Pentagon
spokesman told Reuters.
Trump has said he was impressed by the military parade he watched in
Paris on July 14. U.S. and French soldiers marched together to mark 100
years since the United States entered World War One and France's annual
Bastille Day holiday. It included tanks, armored vehicles and a flyover
of U.S. and French military jets.
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President Donald Trump delivers a speech on tax reform after touring
Sheffer Corporation in Blue Ash outside Cincinnati, Ohio February 5,
2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
"To a large extent because of what I witnessed, we may do something
like that on July 4 in Washington down Pennsylvania Avenue," Trump
told reporters in September. "We're actually looking into it."
The U.S. capital has held large military displays to mark
significant occasions, including victories in war, but rolling tanks
and marching troops down Pennsylvania Avenue are not typically done
on the U.S. Independence Day holiday.
(Writing by Eric Beech; Additional reporting by Phil Stewart,
Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
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