Steven Mnuchin still likely to go to Davos if government still shut down

Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Treasury secretary, listens to a question while speaking to members of the media outside the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, Dec. 3, 2018. 

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is likely to lead the Trump administration’s delegation to the World Economic Forum in Davos if the government remains closed when the conference starts later this month, according to senior administration officials who declined to be named.

However, Mnuchin will likely lead a smaller-than-expected group of administration officials to Switzerland if a large chunk of the government remains closed, the officials said. The forum is scheduled to take place Jan. 22 to 25.

President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday that he still has plans to go to Davos, but that he would stay home if the shutdown continues to grind on. The loose contingency plans emerged as Trump and congressional Republicans battle Democrats over funding for the president’s proposed southern border wall. Trump has refused to sign bills to fund about a quarter of the federal government that do not include money to pay for the barrier.

“The shutdown determines everything” about who will go to Davos, a senior administration official told CNBC. The official declined to give more details.

Media representatives for the White House and Treasury declined to comment.

The elite annual conference in Davos brings together top-tier business executives and world leaders. This year’s theme is “Globalization 4.0: Shaping a Global Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.” As in years past, some business allies of Trump’s will be at the event, including Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman, according to a company spokesman.

Opponents of the president will be attending, as well. A spokesman for liberal billionaire and staunch Trump critic George Soros says he will be at Davos this year.

Trump has positioned himself as an opponent of globalism, although he attended the forum last year to make his “America First” pitch on the world stage.

White House officials slated to attend the forum, but are involved with the ongoing deliberations over the shutdown and the wall, include Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner, and Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen.

A person close to Nielsen told CNBC that if Trump does not go to the meeting in Davos, she will not attend. “She will follow the President’s lead,” this person said and later confirmed the scenario that she will stay behind in Washington if the commander in chief does the same.

A spokesman for Nielsen did not return a request for comment.

Trump has asked for over $5 billion in funding for the wall in exchange for government funding. Democrats, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have refused to budge. In December, the GOP-controlled Senate unanimously approved a bill to keep the government running through Feb. 8, without money for a border wall.

The president, in turn, is threatening to declare a national emergency which would free up funding for improving border security and build a barrier along the southern border between the United States and Mexico.

“If we don’t make a deal, I would say it would be very surprising to me that I wouldn’t declare a national emergency,” Trump told reporters Thursday.