Trump calls Pelosi 'third-rate politician' as Democrats walk out of meeting

Trump tweet about Pelosi Trump tweet about Pelosi Photo: Twitter.com Photo: Twitter.com Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Trump calls Pelosi 'third-rate politician' as Democrats walk out of meeting 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

The first meeting between President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi since the start of an impeachment inquiry ended quickly Wednesday, with the Democrats present walking out after the president allegedly called her a "third-rate politician."

With Pelosi standing next to him at a press conference, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer said Trump used the insult. Pelosi said her response to Trump was, "I wish you were a politician, Mr President. Then you would know the art of the possible."

Pelosi added she thought Trump "had a meltdown, sad to say," and he was "very shaken up" by a House vote earlier in the day. A bipartisan resolution to condemn Trump for pulling troops out of northern Syria passed 354-60. The escalating conflict in Syria was the reason for the meeting between Trump and Democratic leaders.

Pelosi on Trump and the resolution condemning Trump's decision: "The size of the vote, more than 2 to 1 of the Republicans voted to oppose what the president did, probably got to the president because he was shaken up by it ... What we witnessed ... was a meltdown."

Via CBS pic.twitter.com/maDQkkZX4b — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 16, 2019

Immediately after the meeting, Rep. Steny Hoyer told members of the press the president suggested Democrats might like ISIS because "some of ISIS are communist and you might be happy with that."

"This was not a dialogue, it was sort of a diatribe," Schumer added.

Pelosi said later she thought the president called her a "third-grade politician."

Trump tweeted several photos of a tense-looking meeting, one of them with Pelosi standing up and pointing her finger toward Trump while many others looked down or away. "Nervous Nancy's unhinged meltdown!" the tweet said.

Pelosi responded by making that photo her Twitter cover picture.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy defended the president, saying of Pelosi, "To storm out of a meeting, which I've watched time before, during other crisis [sic], is really not – the ability of a speaker, or the style of how a Speaker should carry herself out."

Pelosi said the impeachment inquiry of Trump, which launched over allegations of pressuring Ukraine’s leader to investigate political rival Joe Biden, did not come up at Wednesday’s meeting.

The Washington Post reported that Trump told the Democrats, “I hate ISIS more than you” and repeatedly said “see you at the polls” before the leaders walked out.

Greg Keraghosian is an SFGATE homepage editor. Email: greg.keraghosian@sfgate.com