The National Republican Congressional Committee fundraising dinner caused problems before it even started,
The dinner, which saw President Donald Trump discuss his war in Iran and threatening to deploy the National Guard to airports, contributed to delays at Washington D.C.’s Union Station amid ongoing travel chaos around the country.
Amtrak Northeast, which oversees the region that includes D.C., posted a travel advisory on X on Wednesday afternoon, warning travelers about potential delays due to a “special event.”
“Due to a special event at Washington Union Station, trains arriving from and departing to points south may experience delays of up to 2 hours between 5:30pm-8:30pm,” the post reads. The dinner is being held at the station.
“We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this may cause. We will provide updates as more information becomes available.”
Additionally, Red Line Metrorail trains temporarily bypassed Union Station earlier in the evening, according to an announcement posted on X.
When contacted by the Daily Beast for comment, Amtrak said that it had “maintained on-time service” during the event.
The event comes as Republicans continue to try to end the partial government shutdown that has frozen funding to the Department of Homeland Security ahead of a two-week recess.
As a result of the partial government shutdown, TSA workers have been going without pay since mid-February, prompting the president to send ICE agents into airports to stand around and do very little.
During his speech at Wednesday night’s fundraising dinner, which started almost half an hour late, the president hit several major Republican talking points, including reiterating his opposition to “transgender for everybody” and mail-in voting, and railing against “fake news” that is “not leading us to greatness.”
He defended his war with Iran in his first on-camera remarks about the issue, claiming its leadership, “want to make a deal so badly but they are afraid to say it. They figure they will be killed by their own people. They are also afraid they will be killed by us.”
At one point, he began ranting about “crazy people” AKA Democrats who didn’t like his State of the Union address, seemingly deviating from the teleprompter and asking attendees, “You don’t mind if I go off this crazy teleprompter a little bit? It’s boring when you do the teleprompter thing.”
He proceeded to describe several of his guests at the State of the Union, bemoaning the fact that Democrats did not applaud sufficiently, a complaint that quickly became a MAGA talking point.
The event, designed to raise money to support Republican candidates in the House, also comes just days after Democrats successfully turned the district that houses the president’s Mar-a-Lago estate blue.
On Wednesday, Emily Gregory, the Democratic candidate who won in Florida’s 87th district the day before, criticized Republicans for using scare tactics in their attempt to question the integrity of elections.
She also highlighted the president’s hypocrisy in crusading against mail-in voting considering both first lady Melania Trump and his son Barron made use of that method in the Florida state legislature special election that turned Mar-a-Lago blue.
“The erosion of trust in our election systems is all manipulation by those who want to stay in power,” Gregory told the Daily Beast.
