white house The 17 gripping minutes that captivated Washington In the Oval Office, Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer clashed in spectacular fashion, with the cameras rolling and shocked reporters watching.

“This has spiraled downward,” Nancy Pelosi declared.

That turned out to be an understatement.


For 17 awkward and tense minutes in the Oval Office on Tuesday, President Donald Trump and his Democratic adversaries — Pelosi, the expected incoming House speaker, and Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader — clashed in spectacular fashion, with the cameras rolling and shocked reporters watching. White House aides who had given Trump concise talking points were equally blindsided.

In the end, Trump handed Democrats what they consider a massive gift: a direct and unqualified admission — on live TV, no less — that he will be responsible for a government shutdown.

“If we don’t get what we want one way or the other ... I will shut down the government,” Trump said, adding that he would be “proud” to induce a shutdown over his push for border wall funding.

“I will take the mantle,” he said. “I will be the one to shut it down.”

Tuesday’s meeting was supposed to be closed to the press, and Trump was even handed talking points to follow that matched language GOP House leaders were using, according to a source briefed on the conversations. Trump's top congressional liaison, Shahira Knight, met with Trump right before the meeting for a "legislative pre-brief," according to the president's private schedule.

But Trump, as he has done many times before, followed his own script. He quickly welcomed in reporters and veered off on various tangents, trying to make Schumer and Pelosi look weak on border security with the cameras rolling.

Instead of sitting quietly while Trump filleted them, Pelosi and Schumer spoke up again and again.

“It’s called funding the government, Mr. President,” Schumer jabbed at the top of the meeting when Trump began talking about the importance of funding his border wall.

Pelosi, whose rise to the speakership is facing challenges from within the Democratic caucus, added later: “I think the American people recognize that we must keep government open.”

The confrontation spoke volumes about the new power dynamics in Washington that come with the arrival of a House Democratic majority in January.

All three leaders — Trump, Pelosi and Schumer — looked uncomfortable at times during the exchange. Schumer and Pelosi frequently looked straight ahead, not making eye contact with the president as they disputed him. Vice President Mike Pence didn't speak at all.

As the meeting devolved into a heated argument over whether there are enough votes in the House to fund Trump’s wall, Pelosi urged the president to remove reporters from the room.

“I don’t think we should have a debate in front of the press on this,” she said.

Trump ignored the request and the argument barreled on, insisting that he could easily get the necessary votes in the House and blaming Senate Democrats for holding things up.

Then Schumer stepped in, noting that The Washington Post had granted Trump “a whole lot of Pinocchios” for distorting facts about how much of the wall had already been built. “You just say, 'My way or we’ll shut down the government,'” Schumer said.

“If it’s not good border security, I won’t take it,” Trump shot back.

As the heated exchange continued, Pelosi and Schumer again called for an end to the spectacle.

“Let’s call a halt to this,” Pelosi urged. “Let’s debate in private,” Schumer added.

But the scene was far from over. As it continued, Schumer and Pelosi at times looked shocked by what was unfolding, even as they continued pushing back on the president.

“When the president brags that he won North Dakota and Indiana, he’s in real trouble,” Schumer quipped at one point, to which Trump responded that he did in fact win those states.

Responding to Pelosi’s calls to end the open-press portion of the meeting, Trump hit back with a thinly veiled swipe at the leadership tumult within her caucus.

“I also know that Nancy is in a situation where it’s not easy for her to talk right now, and I understand that,” Trump said.

That set off Pelosi.

"Mr. President, please don't characterize the strength that I bring to this meeting as the leader of the House Democrats, who just won a big victory," she said.

“Elections have consequences, Mr. President,” Schumer chided.

Pelosi explained that she didn’t want to have to publicly dispute Trump’s many questionable assertions about the border wall. “We have to have an evidence-based conversation,” she said, adding, “Let us have a conversation where we don’t have to contradict in public the statistics that you put forth.”

Later, Pelosi was more blunt.

"I did not want to, in front of those people, say, 'You don't know what you are talking about,'" she told reporters after leaving the meeting.

But Trump didn't seem to care, bulldozing ahead every time Pelosi or Schumer tried to end the verbal skirmish. The president blamed Schumer for the brief government shutdowns earlier this year. Schumer responded that Trump has repeatedly called for a government shutdown. “I don't want to do what you did. Twenty times you … called for it,” Schumer said.

By this time, Trump had had enough. But before he ended the meeting, he gave Democrats exactly what they wanted — a sound bite that they are certain to replay every time a government funding deadline nears.

“I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck. People in this country don't want criminals and people that have lots of problems and drugs pouring into our country,” Trump said. “I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I won't blame you for it. The last time, you shut it down. It didn't work. I will take the mantle of shutting it down. I'm going to shut it down for border security.”

Trump stood by his comments later Tuesday afternoon.

“I actually like that in terms of an issue," he told reporters gathered in the Oval Office for a bill signing, referring to shutting down the government over border security, adding later, “I don’t mind owning that issue."

Indeed, some of Trump's allies argued that the president's comments were not politically damaging and that they showed that Trump isn't retreating on his campaign promise to build the wall.

One former White House official cautioned against assuming the fallout from the president’s shtick will be disastrous, even as the person conceded that the Oval Office episode was “wild” and agreed that Trump had given Democrats an easy talking point. The official noted that it's not clear there will be a shutdown and suggested that Trump’s willingness to shut down the government would be tempered by a potential compromise on wall funding.

Nevertheless, Trump appears to have set aside his pledge that Mexico would foot the bill for the wall. That promise went unmentioned by Trump during his tête-à-tête with Pelosi and Schumer, as he urged Congress to approve billions of dollars for the wall.

After the meeting, Schumer and Pelosi, standing on the White House driveway, were quick to pounce on his comments, with Pelosi making sure to brand any government closure the "Trump shutdown."

“He has admitted in this meeting that he will take responsibility,” Pelosi said. “The Trump shutdown is something that can be avoided and that the American people do not need at this time of economic uncertainty, and people losing jobs and the market in a mood and the rest. It is a luxury — the Trump shutdown is a luxury that the American people cannot afford.”

After the meeting, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders characterized the riveting spat as a "constructive dialogue" between the three leader, noting in another understatement: "Major disagreement remains on the issue of border security and transparency."