House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) accused Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) of mischaracterizing President Trump’s behavior during a meeting between Republican and Democratic leadership on Wednesday afternoon, saying the whole ordeal was “disturbing.”
“What he described the meeting to be is totally different than what took place,” McCarthy told reporters outside the White House, before explaining that Trump was calm and polite, “he even brought a little candy for every body.”
McCarthy said Schumer raised his voice during the meeting, even though Trump was trying to negotiate in “a very respectful way.” Schumer told reporters that Trump was agitated during the discussion, slammed his fist and walked out of the room when Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said she wouldn’t support his wall, calling the meeting a “waste of time.” Both McCarthy and Vice President Mike Pence denied that Trump slammed his fist and described his demeanor as calm.
“The way they’ve displayed and their behavior is embarrassing to me. And the way they come out to this floor and talk about a meeting in a manner that did not take place in there is disturbing to me,” McCarthy said. “I want to solve this problem. People are hurting, so I tell the Democrats get back into the room. Let’s not leave. Let’s solve this problem just as the president said, it doesn’t even take 45 minutes. We’re here and we want to work.”
McCarthy claims Schumer lied about meeting with Trump pic.twitter.com/TmUMCsMUz9
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) January 9, 2019
