In denying raises to federal employees in 2019, President Trump cited "national emergency or serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare.” (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)This post has been updated. In June, President Trump tweeted that we have “the greatest economy in the HISTORY of America.” Then this month he said the "economy has never been better." On Thursday, though, he offered an contradictory assessment for withholding pay raises for federal employees in 2019: economic trouble. If those “serious economic conditions" exist, though, they somehow exist even in what Trump has declared to be the best U.S. economy ever. NEWS: President Trump says he's eliminating a pay raise for civilian federal employees slated for 2019 in order to "put our Nation on a fiscally sustainable course."

Source: Washington Post August 30, 2018 19:21 UTC