Trump gets into raucous, on-camera Oval Office debate with Schumer and Pelosi and says he'd be 'proud' to shut down the government
- President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to shut down the government in a heated debate with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi.
- "I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck," the president said.
- Democrats have said they'd offer Trump $1.3 billion of funding for a border fence, far less than the $5 billion Trump has requested to cover the costs for portions of the wall.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to shut down the government in a heated debate with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi.
Trump told Schumer and Pelosi said he'd be "proud" to shut down the government if Democrats don't help him gain funding for the border wall he wants to build along the US-Mexico border.
"I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck, because the people of this country don't want criminals and people that have lots of problems and drugs pouring into our country," Trump said. "So I will take the mantle, I will be the one to shut it down, and I won't blame you for it, and the last time that you shut it down, it did not work, and I will take the mantle to shut it down and I will shut it down for border security."
Schumer and Pelosi implored Trump to not shut the government down over the issue. "This has spiraled downward," Pelosi said during the impassioned exchange.
Following the meeting, Schumer said a shutdown would hurt "too many innocent people" and slammed Trump for throwing a "temper tantrum."
Trump made a number of false claims as he argued with the Democratic leaders, including that "tremendous amounts of [border] wall have already been built... we don't talk about that."
Democrats have said they'd offer Trump $1.3 billion of funding for a border fence, far less than the $5 billion Trump has requested to cover the costs for portions of the wall.