SNIT HITS THE FAN
Trump blows lid over impeach talk, storms out on Dems
President Trump rails at Democrats on Wednesday after storming out of meeting about $2 trillion plan to fix roads and bridges.
No infrastructure for you, America!
President Trump stormed out of a meeting Wednesday with Democrats on a $2 trillion infrastructure plan and said he won’t work with them as long as they are pushing what he calls “phony” investigations.
“Instead of walking in happily to a meeting, I walk in to look at people who said I was doing a coverup,” Trump said at an impromptu appearance in the Rose Garden after ditching the White House sitdown with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
“I don’t do coverups,” the president fumed before demanding Democrats “get these phony investigations over.”
The dramatic White House showdown unfolded minutes after Pelosi had hosted a Democratic caucus meeting on the possibility of impeaching Trump.
Pelosi, who has urged caution on impeachment, told reporters after the morning session that Trump is “engaged in a coverup” of his alleged obstruction of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
Trump was evidently insulted by Pelosi’s slight and kept the highpowered Democratic duo waiting for 15 minutes before their planned infrastructure meeting, according to a congressional aide briefed on the matter.
The aide said the president then walked in without shaking anyone’s hand or sitting down before lecturing the Democrats for three minutes about how he wants to pass legislation on infrastructure, farm policy and prescription drug prices.
“But frankly, Speaker Pelosi said something terrible today,” Trump said, according to the source, adding he won’t team up on legislation while House committees continue to investigate him and his administration over a plethora of possible wrongdoing.
The source added, “He left the room before anyone else could speak.”
Trump didn’t explain in his Rose Garden appearance why he wouldn’t work with Democrats while congressional probes continue.
Pelosi (D-Calif.) countered that Trump just can’t perform when the chips are down.
“Maybe it was lack of confidence on his part, that he really couldn’t … match the greatness of the challenge that we have,” Pelosi told reporters at the Capitol minutes after the scuttled meeting. “He just took a pass.”
“I pray for the president of the United States, and I pray for the United States of America,” she added.
Trump punched back over Twitter: “Nancy, thank you so much for your prayers, I know you truly mean it!”
Speaking following Pelosi, Schumer (D-N.Y.) accused Trump of using House investigations as an excuse to renege on their deal to forge a bipartisan, jobs-rich plan to rebuild crumbling roads, bridges and railroads.
“Now that he was forced to actually say how he’d pay for it, he had to run away,” Schumer said.
Pelosi has been trying to fend off a chorus of fed-up Democrats who want to launch impeachment hearings against Trump, citing his complete refusal to comply with oversight inquiries and Mueller’s decision to not clear the president of obstruction.
Pelosi believes voters may punish Democrats for getting tied up with impeachment instead of working on bread-and-butter issues like job-creating infrastructure and health care.
Even Republicans are saying that Trump’s hissy fit gives Democrats cover to push for impeachment while allowing them to also claim he is the one thwarting progress on other issues.
“Trump’s gambit here is counterproductive because deal-making was a big part of his brand in 2016,” said Tim Miller, a GOP strategist and former adviser to Jeb Bush.
“If he can’t get anything done, the percentage of his voters who thought they were getting a deal-making business executive are going to be alienated …. Infrastructure is popular, and I’d think Trump would try to turn the blame on it not getting passed on the Democrats, but he doesn’t even seem to be attempting that.”
The president had agreed to work with Democrats on a 10-figure infrastructure plan just three weeks ago. They were supposed to meet this week to figure out how to bankroll the initiative.
Republicans, including some of Trump’s own aides, had poured cold water on the deal, suggesting the GOP has other policy priorities.
Schumer said those internal GOP squabbles were the real cause of Trump’s hissy fit, not the investigations.
“The investigations were going on three weeks ago,” Schumer said.