President Trump abruptly left a White House negotiating session with congressional Democrats about 20 minutes into the meeting, dismissing it as a “total waste of…
President Trump abruptly left a White House negotiating session with congressional Democrats about 20 minutes into the meeting, dismissing it as a “total waste of time” as the partial government shutdown careened toward a fourth week.
The acrimonious collapse of the talks left no clear solution for ending the impasse, which has consumed Washington and raised concerns about pain for hundreds of thousands of federal workers across the country.
Top Democrats said they once again urged Trump to reopen shuttered government agencies during the abbreviated meeting. Trump refused and instead asked Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) if she would approve border wall funding within 30 days if he opened the government.
When she said “no,” the president got up and left, according to officials in the room.
“Again, we saw a temper tantrum because he couldn’t get his way and he just walked out of the meeting,” Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters on the West Wing driveway.
Trump confirmed in a tweet posted as Democratic leaders were speaking that he did walk out of the meeting, saying that “Nancy said, NO. I said bye-bye, nothing else works!”
The president did indeed use the words “bye-bye” as he left the room, according to a source familiar with the meeting.
Amid falling show and chilling temperatures, Republican and Democratic leaders alike stood outside the White House to accuse one another of misrepresenting what had happened.
Schumer said Trump “slammed the table” as he left the meeting, while Vice President Pence said the president had “passed out candy” — a mix that included Butterfingers and M&Ms — and that he had not raised his voice or slammed his hand.
Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told reporters Trump questioned why he was “even doing this meeting” a day after imploring Democrats during a Tuesday night address to the nation to return to the negotiating table and work out a solution.
