After congressional Democratic and Republican leadership met with President Donald Trump Wednesday afternoon, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that Trump called the meeting a “waste of his time” and walked out after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said she didn’t agree with his desired border wall.
“Unfortunately, the President just got up and walked out,” Schumer said, standing alongside Pelosi outside the White House. “He asked Speaker Pelosi, ‘Will you agree to my wall?’ She said ‘No.’ And he just got up and said, ‘Then we have nothing to discuss.’ and he just walked out.”
The Senate minority leader added: “Again, we saw a temper tantrum because he couldn’t get his way, and he just walked out of the meeting.”
Republicans contested that version of events slightly, with Trump tweeting — and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) telling reporters shortly afterward — that he left the meeting after Pelosi rejected a wall within 30 days of the shutdown ending, were the government to reopen without wall funds having been allocated.
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
Schumer added that he told Trump “We’re willing to discuss anything” once the government is re-open.
“And he said, ‘If I open up the government, you won’t do what I want,” Schumer said.
“And then a few minutes later, he sort of slammed the table, and when Leader Pelosi said she didn’t agree with the wall, he just walked out and said ‘We have nothing to discuss.’ He said it was a waste of his time.”
Watch Schumer’s remarks below:
Schumer describes Trump walking out of a meeting: pic.twitter.com/eKvtOJUAh0
— Matt Shuham (@mattshuham) January 9, 2019
