President Donald Trump, who spoke at a closed-press fundraiser in Greensboro, did not pinpoint any lawmakers for criticism. | Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Trump vents to wealthy donors about failure to repeal Obamacare

President Donald Trump told a gathering of wealthy donors in North Carolina on Saturday evening that he is determined to push forward on health care reform — but acknowledged that he is facing serious obstacles in doing so.

At a time of widespread frustration in the Republican Party about its repeated failure to repeal Obamacare, the president said he wants to restart the talks. But, according to two people present for the remarks, he underscored the challenges of getting a majority of support for any legislation in the Senate, noting that a small group of GOP holdouts opposed the repeal efforts.


The president walked the group through what had been attempted so far. No matter how you approached it, Trump said, getting to the 50-vote threshold was tough.

Trump, appearing at the Greensboro home of Republican Party donor Louis DeJoy, did not pinpoint any lawmakers for criticism, as he has done previously with Arizona Sen. John McCain and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, both of whom have balked at getting behind the specific repeal efforts. Trump also chose not to attack Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, another past target of his frustration, the two attendees said.

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The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Trump touched on a variety of topics during the fundraiser, including the looming fight over tax reform, his past experiences on the campaign trail, and hurricane relief efforts. At one point, the president attacked the media for his recent trip to Puerto Rico, expressing frustration over its coverage of him tossing paper towels, basketball-style, to storm victims.

But he spent much of the evening discussing health care reform. Several people in attendance said the president did not rule out the possibility of working with Democrats to get something done.

Trump earlier on Saturday had tweeted that he had called Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Friday to see whether Democrats wanted to work together on “a great HealthCareBill.” Schumer later said in a statement that Trump had suggested another Obamacare repeal-and-replace effort, a non-starter for Democrats.

The issue is a sensitive one for Republican Party donors, many of whom spent the past eight years cutting checks to the GOP in hopes of repealing Obamacare. Some influential contributors have said they will not open their wallets until the party passes something.

The North Carolina event raised about $2 million for the Republican National Committee and Trump’s reelection efforts. It drew a number of prominent GOP figures in the state, including former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory.

