Donald Trump walks out of meeting with Democrats on shutdown
The president tweeted that he had said ‘bye-bye’ after his opponents said they would not fund his border wall.
President Donald Trump has walked out of a meeting with congressional leaders as talks to end the partial government shutdown remain at an impasse, leading Democrats and the president himself have said.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Mr Trump asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at Wednesday’s White House meeting whether she would agree to fund his wall on the southern border with Mexico.
When she said “no”, Mr Schumer said, Mr Trump got up and said, “Then we have nothing to discuss.”
Mr Schumer added: “And he just walked out”, the Democrat branding the president’s actions “really, really unfortunate”.
He tweeted that once Ms Pelosi rejected his 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.
Mr 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.”
Mr Pence said: “When she said ‘no’, the president said ‘goodbye’.”
Mr Schumer said Mr Trump had a “temper tantrum.”
Mr Pence said of the president: “I don’t recall him ever raising his voice.”
