Top Democrats claim President Donald Trump has walked out of a meeting with congressional leaders in a “temper tantrum” as talks to end the partial government shutdown remain at stalemate.
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 border wall.
When she said “no”, Schumer said, Trump got up and said: “Then we have nothing to discuss.” Schumer added: “And he just walked out.”
Trump, in a tweet, called the meeting “a total waste of time”.
He tweeted that once Pelosi rejected his long-stalled border wall, he “said bye-bye, nothing else works!”
Vice President Mike Pence said Democrats were “unwilling to even negotiate” an end to the partial government shutdown and the standoff over the wall.
Pence spoke outside the West Wing after the contentious meeting, saying: “I think the president made his position very clear today that there will be no deal without a wall.”
Pence said Trump asked Pelosi whether she would be willing to agree to funding for a wall or a barrier on the southern border if he re-opened the government quickly.
Pence said: “When she said ‘no’, the president said ‘goodbye’.”
Whether Trump had a “temper tantrum”, Pence said of the president: “I don’t recall him ever raising his voice”.