President Donald Trump said he is scrapping a White House meeting with top congressional Democrats later this week, as the threat of a government shutdown looms over Washington.
Trump said “unserious and ridiculous demands” by Democrats would make any such meeting unproductive, rattling off a list of demands he claimed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries want in exchange for their party’s votes to keep the government funded.
“They are threatening to shut down the Government of the United States unless they can have over $1 Trillion Dollars in new spending to continue free healthcare for Illegal Aliens (A monumental cost!), force Taxpayers to fund Transgender surgery for minors, have dead people on the Medicaid roles, allow Illegal Alien Criminals to steal Billions of Dollars in American Taxpayer Benefits, try to force our Country to again open our Borders to Criminals and to the World, allow men to play in women’s sports, and essentially create Transgender operations for everybody,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform Tuesday.
As CNN reported, Trump was scheduled to meet with Schumer and Jeffries on Thursday, according to three sources familiar with the plans.
While he scrapped the upcoming Oval Office meeting, Trump on Tuesday left the door open to meeting in the future, provided Democrats “become realistic about the things our Country stands for.”
“People voted for COMMON SENSE, and that’s what the Republicans and your President, ‘DONALD J. TRUMP,’ stand for. I look forward to meeting with them if they get serious about the future of our Nation. We must keep the Government open, and legislate like true Patriots rather than hold American Citizens hostage, knowing that they want our now thriving Country closed. I’ll be happy to meet with them if they agree to the Principles in this Letter. They must do their job! Otherwise, it will just be another long and brutal slog through their radicalized quicksand,” Trump said in his lengthy Truth Social post.
CNN has reached out to Jeffries’ and Schumer’s offices for comment.
