Nov 28, 2017

Democrats pull out of White House meeting after Trump tweet

Erica Pandey

The last bipartisan meeting Trump had with Schumer and Pelosi at the White House. Photo: Evan Vucci / AP

Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi say they won't meet with President Trump at the White House today after he tweeted that "they want illegal immigrants flooding into our Country unchecked, are weak on Crime and want to substantially RAISE Taxes. I don't see a deal!"

"We're going to continue to negotiate with Republican leaders [Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan] who may be interested in reaching a bipartisan agreement," Schumer and Pelosi said in a joint statement.

Update: Both Republican leaders and the White House have responded to Schumer and Pelosi.

The full statement:

"Given that the President doesn't see a deal between Democrats and the White House, we believe the best path forward is to continue negotiating with our Republican counterparts in Congress instead. Rather than going to the White House for a show meeting that won't result in an agreement, we've asked Leader McConnell and Speaker Ryan to meet this afternoon. We don't have any time to waste in addressing the issues that confront us, so we're going to continue to negotiate with Republican leaders who may be interested in reaching a bipartisan agreement.

"If the President, who already said earlier this year that 'our country needs a good shutdown,' isn't interested in addressing the difficult year end agenda, we'll work with those Republicans who are, as we did in April. We look forward to continuing to work in good faith, as we have been for the last month, with our Republican colleagues in Congress to do just that."

Trump's tweet:

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Democrats pull out of White House meeting after Trump tweet

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