Trump Gave Democrats An Ultimatum About Investigations, Which I'm Sure Will Go Well
It's no secret that Democratic members of Congress and President Donald Trump haven't always seen eye to eye on a matter of issues. However, with House and Senate Judiciary Committee investigations in full swing, tensions have increased significantly. How is the president dealing with this? Well, Trump's apparent ultimatum about Democrats and investigations isn't a promising step towards bipartisanship.
On Wednesday, May 22, Trump reportedly walked out of a infrastructure reform meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer after hearing that Pelosi believes Trump is involved in a "cover-up." That day, Trump addressed the speaker's claim by telling reporters that he "doesn't do cover-ups." Elite Daily previously reached out to the White House and representatives of Pelosi for comment, but did not receive a response.
Well, apparently, the statement is still not sitting well with the president. On Thursday, May 23, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders spoke to reporters about the interaction between Trump and the Democratic party, where she doubled down on Trump's refusal to work with Democrats until the investigations are over, paraphrasing the president's own words. She said,
It’s real simple — you can’t go down two tracks. We’re either gonna have to agree that we want to solve problems for the country… or we can fight.
Trump had previously said that he wanted "to do infrastructure," but that he couldn't as long as Democrats were investigating him. "You can’t do it under these circumstances. So get these phony investigations over with," he said.
Sanders also defended Trump reportedly walking out of the meeting by pointing the blame at Pelosi. According to Sanders, it's "insane" that Pelosi expected to have a meeting with the president after accusing him of an alleged crime.
Pelosi and Trump's relationship has been sour for months, but the infrastructure reform exchange represented a shift in tensions between the political leaders. On May 22, Pelosi appeared alongside the Democratic caucus and claimed that they believe Trump is involved in a "cover-up." That same day, Pelosi spoke to CNN about her meeting with Trump, which apparently wasn't pleasant to say the least. She said,
He came into the room and said that I said that he was engaged in a cover-up and he couldn't possibly engage in a conversation on infrastructure.
According to CNN, the meeting only lasted around five minutes.
At this point in Trump's tenure, bipartisanship might be just a fond dream. Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into whether the 2016 Trump presidential campaign colluded with Russian operatives has been a controversial topic in the White House. While Mueller did not conclude that the campaign had colluded with Russia, he did note that the campaign had expected to benefit from Russian election meddling, and expressly did not exonerate the president on obstruction of justice. The Justice Department later concluded the president had not committed any crimes. The White House did not respond to Elite Daily's previous request for comment on details in the report. However, congressional Democrats are determined to dig deeper. Familiar faces such as Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen and Attorney General William Barr have already testified before Congress, and former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks has reportedly been subpoenaed to testify to the House as well.
Another day, another dramatic twist. Even if Trump is upset at Pelosi's comment, let's hope these two can set aside their differences and do what's best for the country.
