Trump In Oval Office Shouting Match With Pelosi And Schumer Over Border Wall…

Weasel Zippers

Trump in extraordinary Oval Office shouting match with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer as he threatens to shut down the government to get his wall built - and they call him a 'Pinocchio' and tell him: 'Elections have consequences'  

. . . "The fact is you do not have the votes in the House,' she told him pointedly.

"Trump angrily told the expected speaker of the House that funding for his wall would pass in 'two seconds' in the lower chamber, only it doesn't matter because it won't reach the 60-vote threshold in the Senate without Democratic support.

" 'Nancy, I do. And we need border security,' he retorted as the televised meeting devolved into utter chaos.

"Schumer brought up Trump's 'Pinocchio' score in the Washington Post, telling Trump that he said at least 20 times that he would use a government shut down as a negotiating tool. 

" 'We do not want to shut down the government,' Schumer told him. " . . .
. . .

. . . "democratic senators warned the president's Pentagon chief on Monday that a plan to use defense funds build border barriers in Arizona would be controversial if carried out and unauthorized.   

"They told Defense Secretary James Mattis in a letter that the Navy did not provide a compelling argument for studies on 31 miles of barriers along a bombing range near Yuma.

"The project would divert as much as $450 million in funds that were intended for military readiness activities, they insisted.

" 'We believe the Department of Defense lacks any authorization or appropriations needed to move this project into any stage of construction during fiscal year 2019,' the senators said.

"In the letter told Mattis that he should not attempt to circumvent the legislative body by making use of a code that authorizes the military to provide a support role in counternarcotics operations along the border. " . . .

Official White House transcript of the Oval Office dust-up with Schumer and Pelosi

. . . HOUSE SPEAKER-DESIGNATE PELOSI: Well, thank you, Mr. President, for the opportunity to meet with you so that we can work together in a bipartisan way to meet the needs of the American people.
I think the American people recognize that we must keep government open, that a shutdown is not worth anything, and that you should not have a Trump shutdown. You have the White House --
THE PRESIDENT: Did you say 'Trump' -- oh, oh.
HOUSE SPEAKER-DESIGNATE PELOSI: A 'Trump shutdown.' You have the White House --
THE PRESIDENT: I was going to call it a 'Pelosi shutdown.'
HOUSE SPEAKER-DESIGNATE PELOSI: You have the Senate. You have the House of Representatives. You have the votes. You should pass it right now.
THE PRESIDENT: No, we don't have the votes, Nancy, because in the Senate, we need 60 votes and we don't have it.  . . .

National Review: "Tempers flared between President Trump and Democratic leaders during an Oval Office meeting Tuesday over funding for a wall at the southern border."  . . . "Large portions of the government are headed for a shutdown on December 21 if Congress fails to pass legislation to keep funding flowing. A particular sticking point for both sides is the $5 billion that Trump has requested for a wall, as opposed to the $1.6 billion for improving existing fencing along the border that Democrats have agreed to." . . .

McConnell Warns against Shutdown after Trump Spars with Dems

Pelosi said, . . . "It was so wild. It goes to show you: ‘You get into a tickle contest with a skunk, you get tinkle all over you.'”