WASHINGTON D.C. – An Oval Office meeting with President Trump, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and presumptive incoming speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi Tuesday spiraled out of control over funding the border. Schumer described the meeting as a Trump “temper tantrum.”
With a potential government shutdown looming less than two weeks away, Pelosi told Mr. Trump, “you will not win” on the border wall. The president demanded border wall funding — and said he’s not afraid the shut down the government over it. In fact, he said, he’s proud to do so.
“If we don’t get what we want one way or the other … I will shut down the government,” the president said. “And I am proud … I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck.”
Mr. Trump is pushing for $5 billion for his border wall — Democrats don’t want to give him much more than $1 billion. And the president has threatened to shut down the government Dec. 21, when funding runs out, if he doesn’t get what he wants. Government funding runs out at Dec. 21.
The president fired off a series of tweets Tuesday morning blasting Democrats and urging them to secure the border. Mr. Trump claimed Democrats “for strictly political reasons and because they have been pulled so far left, do NOT want Border Security.”
“I look forward to my meeting with Chuck Schumer & Nancy Pelosi. In 2006, Democrats voted for a Wall, and they were right to do so. Today, they no longer want Border Security. They will fight it at all cost, and Nancy must get votes for Speaker. But the Wall will get built,” the president tweeted.
Earlier this year when the president met with Schumer behind closed doors, he appeared to have reached a deal on protecting recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, in exchange for border wall funding. Mr. Trump ultimately rejected that. The government shut down.
