By Fin Gomez | CBS News |
Washington – More descriptions of the heated exchanges between President Trump and congressional Democratic leaders during their two-hour meeting Friday are emerging – and the partial government shutdown wasn’t the only topic on Mr. Trump’s mind. Though the president later described the meetings over border security as “productive,” Democratic leaders told reporters afterward that the discussions had been “contentious.”
According to a source familiar with the meeting, Mr. Trump initiated the talks – held for the second time this week in the White House Situation Room – by lambasting the shutdown impasse and again demanding $5.6 billion for border security, which he declared to be the minimum figure he needed to build the southern border wall he has been promising since his presidential campaign.
But Democratic leaders, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, again refused to consider that number. The president then told them he was willing to continue to the shutdown “for months or even years” unless the Democrats agreed to what he says is crucial funding for the southern border.
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