Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
President Donald Trump on Monday inaugurated a new helicopter landing pad at the White House, seeking to move past a row over media access even as major US television networks kept their cameras away after CNN was not allowed to cover the event.
Trump cut a red, white and blue ribbon with oversized gold scissors, shook hands with officials in green construction smocks and hard hats, and then boarded Marine One for New York. The move came as MS Now, Politico and CNN sued after Trump announced on Friday that he was banning them from covering the White House, escalating his long-running efforts to restrict coverage he finds objectionable.
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CNN normally takes part in a five-network rotation that provides pooled coverage of daily White House events. After it was denied its usual slot on Monday, ABC, CBS, CNN and Fox News jointly took the unusual step of not covering the helipad ceremony.
Trump has repeatedly promoted the project, saying the extensive granite would have a “million-year life” and that a large insignia reading the “Seal of the President of the United States” would impress Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is due to arrive on Wednesday for a state visit. His push to curb access for media outlets to the White House, however, has overshadowed both the project and Xi’s visit.
The dispute has also eclipsed Trump’s plan to use the helipad to fly from the White House to Joint Base Andrews and then on to New York, where he is due to attend the United Nations General Assembly beginning on Tuesday. The noise from the waiting helicopter meant Trump did not answer shouted questions before climbing aboard Marine One.
The president has spent large stretches of his presidency focused on building projects even as the war in Iran continues and with about six weeks left before Election Day, when voters are increasingly worried about inflation and a potentially weakening economy.
Whether the work will be long-lasting is unclear. Trump had earlier suggested that his refurbishing of the Lincoln Memorial’s Reflecting Pool would last a century, but the paint faded and the liner peeled away in chunks within days. Work on the helipad began in June.
Trump also removed the original Tennessee flagstone along the West Wing colonnade and replaced it with black granite. He also refurbished with white granite the traditional walkway from the White House’s diplomatic entrance and redid part of the asphalt driveway around the South Lawn.
He pushed to complete the project before Xi’s arrival and has argued that visiting dignitaries would likely be dazzled by it, although Marine One is the only aircraft that lands so close to the White House. Trump has said the upgrade was needed because Vietnam War-era helicopters used as Marine One are being replaced by newer ones that are too powerful to land on the White House lawn without damaging the grass.
Trump said in July that the helipad would be privately funded and would cost up to USD 6 million. He has also spoken about further work, including levelling the ground around the helipad, making the final expenditure difficult to calculate. Monday’s event brought together Trump’s latest White House building project and an intensifying legal fight over press access.
With PTI Inputs
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
