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‘Bye-Bye’: Trump Walks Out of Shutdown Talks With Dems

President Donald Trump "got up and walked out" of a Wednesday meeting over the government shutdown, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said, after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Democrats would not approve money for a wall along the southern border.

WASHINGTON (CN) - President Donald Trump "got up and walked out" of a Wednesday meeting over the government shutdown, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said, after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Democrats would not approve money for a wall along the southern border.

"He asked Speaker Pelosi, 'would 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," Schumer told reporters this afternoon. "Again we saw a temper tantrum because he couldn't get his way, and he just walked out of the meeting."

Appearing to confirm Schumer's version of events, Trump took to Twitter after the meeting.

"Just left a meeting with Chuck and Nancy, a total waste of time," Trump wrote. "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!"

Vice President Mike Pence told reporters after the meeting Trump was open to the idea of reopening the government and then negotiating over money for the border wall, but left the meeting after Democrats could not guarantee they would sign on to a wall deal once the government opened again.

The partial government shutdown has stretched into its 19th day, and a resolution still appears unlikely as Trump refuses to back down from his demand for $5 billion in funding for a border wall and Democrats standing firm in their refusal to earmark any new money for the project. 

The House passed a package of spending bills last week that would reopen the government and this week has teed up votes on another group of bills that would do the same. As none include money for the border wall, however, the White House has threatened to veto all of the House-proposed bills.

The House passed the first of those bills, which funds the Treasury Department and the IRS, on Wednesday evening with a 240-188 vote.  

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said the Senate will not pass a spending package that Trump will not sign, effectively ending the chance of any of House-passed bills reaching the president's desk.

Categories / Government, Politics

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