President Trump hosted journalists at the Oval Office during his quarrel with top Democrats Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer over a potential shutdown of the government amid proposals for the border wall, Newsweek reported.
“I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck,” Trump told Schumer and Pelosi during a contentious meeting at the White House on Tuesday. “Because the people of this country don’t want criminals and people that have lots of problems and drugs pouring into our country, so I will take the mantle.”
“I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not going to blame you for it,” Trump said during the argument.
Pelosi and Schumer were in the Oval Office to discuss potential solutions to avoid a partial government shutdown at the end of the month. Federal funding for some agencies expires on December 21.
However, Trump refused to compromise on the financing for his long-proposed border wall, a campaign promise that has stalled nearly two years into his presidency, with no construction on the wall even started. Even though Democrats are offering $1.3 billion for border fencing and barriers, Trump has repeatedly threatened a shutdown if his $5 billion requests to fund the wall is not met.
“You will not win,” Pelosi told Trump, and she carried on saying that the conversation should take place behind closed doors. “I don’t think you should have a debate in front of the press.”
Pelosi, who is likely to become the next House speaker as Democrats take control of the chamber in January, then slammed the President for not having an “evidence-based” conversation, and pointed out that many of his statements during the meeting were “not factual.”
“This is about the security of our country. We’ve taken an oath to protect and defend and we don’t want to have that mischaracterized by anyone,” Pelosi stated. “So let us have a conversation where we don’t have to contradict, in public, the statistics that you’ve put forth but instead have a conversation about what will really work.”
“People do not yet realize how much of the Wall, including really effective renovation, has already been built. If the Democrats do not give us the votes to secure our Country, the Military will build the remaining sections of the Wall. They know how important it is!” Trump said.
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