Donald Trump Vows To Keep Government Shuttered “Months Or Years” To Get Border Wall Funding
President Donald Trump told Democrats he would keep the government closed for months or even years unless he gets funding for his Border Wall.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer brought this news to reporters on the White House lawn after yet another meeting with Trump over his government shutdown in an effort to extract funding for his Border Wall.
“Yes, I did,” Trump said when reporters asked if he actually said that, during his Rose Garden presser that followed Dems’ White House presser.
“We told the President we needed the government open. He resisted,” Schumer told the gaggle of reporters, calling the talks “somewhat contentious,” and adding, “it’s very hard to see how progress will be made unless he opens up the government.”
Trump called the talks “very very productive meeting,” adding, “we’ve come a long way,” and saying the two sides will meet again this weekend.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi described Friday’s meeting as “sometimes contentious” but insisted “we cannot resolve this until we open up the government, and we made that very clear to the President.”
“We are committed to keeping our borders safe,” Pelosi insisted, speaking for Dems.
“The bottom line is simple: we made a plea to the President to once again don’t hold millions of Americans, hundreds of thousands of workers, hostage. Open up the government and let’s continue the discussion,” Schumer added.
Asked if progress had been made, Pelosi snarked, “How do you define progress in a meeting? When you have a better understanding of each other’s position and eliminate some possibilities? If that, then we made some progress.”
Trump opened his presser boasting about December economic stats. “I imagine you’ve all seen the incredible job growth – 312K jobs, which took everybody by surprise,” POTUS simpered. “I think it has a lot to do with factories and the companies moving back to the United States. I can’t tell you what it does to other countries. But I’m the President of this country.”
“Are you still proud to own this shutdown,” one reporter asked POTUS.
“I’m very proud of doing what I’m doing,” Trump shot back, saying, “I don’t call it a shutdown. i don’t call shutdown. I call it doing what you have to do for benefit and safety of our country.”
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