During a negotiations meeting with Democrats in early January, President Trump upbraided his top aide, acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney because he was unhappy with his negotiating style, Axios reported.
“You fucked it all up, Mick,” Trump reportedly told Mulvaney, cutting him off while he spoke of finding a “middle ground” with Democrats who seemed to be unflinching in their opposition to providing $5.7 billion for Trump’s border wall.
“As a negotiator, Trump was resetting,” a source in the room told Axios. “Mick was not reading the room or the President.”
A White House official who spoke to Axios did not deny Trump’s language, but said the exchange was not heated.
“The President and Mulvaney joked about it afterwards,” the official told Axios.