WASHINGTON — Top Democrats say President Donald Trump walked out of a meeting with congressional leaders as talks to end the partial government shutdown remain at an impasse.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Trump asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at Wednesday’s White House meeting whether she would agree to fund his wall.
When she said “no,” Schumer says, Trump got up and said, “Then we have nothing to discuss.” Schumer says, “And he just walked out.”
Schumer is calling Trump’s actions “really, really unfortunate.”
Trump is also weighing in on the meeting by tweet, calling it “a total waste of time.”
Just left a meeting with Chuck and Nancy, a total waste of time. I asked what is going to happen in 30 days if I quickly open things up, are you going to approve Border Security which includes a Wall or Steel Barrier? Nancy said, NO. I said bye-bye, nothing else works!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2019
He tweets that once Pelosi rejected his long-stalled border wall, he “said bye-bye, nothing else works!”
Trump has been making a public case that there is a “crisis” at the southern border. And he’s still threatening to declare a national emergency to circumvent Congress if he can’t get the wall money from them.
He told reporters during a visit to the Capitol earlier Wednesday that he may turn to a declaration “at some point” if top Democrats Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi “don’t agree” with his assessment about the problems at the border.
