Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump told a group of lawmakers he can't accept Democrats' offer to re-open the government as the two sides negotiate border wall funding because he "would look foolish if I did that," according to a person familiar with the exchange.
Trump met with congressional leadership from both sides of the aisle Wednesday amid an on-going partial government shutdown.
The President and Democrats are at odds over funding for a border wall. The House is expected to hold a series of votes to open the government just hours after Democrats take control on Thursday, a Democratic aide confirmed to CNN, but Trump is unlikely to sign anything they approve at this stage.
"Our question to the President and to the Republicans is, 'Why don't you accept what you have already done to open up government?' " asked California Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the presumed new House speaker, referring to a bipartisan, Senate-passed funding measure, albeit one Trump has never publicly endorsed.
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he asked Trump why the government couldn't be reopened while the two sides work to resolve their differences.
chicago_bunny on January 2nd, 2019 at 23:58 UTC »
The master negotiator has sung this tune before:
2ndprize on January 2nd, 2019 at 23:48 UTC »
This is like when he met with the Mexican president and was basically like "hey you have to say you will pay for the wall or I will look bad" which was like 200,000 years ago
Progressive16 on January 2nd, 2019 at 23:31 UTC »
We passed that road a long time ago.