WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump
openly fought with the top two Democratic lawmakers at an Oval
Office meeting on Tuesday about government funding, throwing
into question whether a deal was possible ahead of a deadline
later this month.
In a remarkable public argument, the likes of which is
seldom seen before cameras, Trump bickered with U.S. Senate
Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader
Nancy Pelosi about funding for his border wall.
The president has called for $5 billion to fund the barrier
along the U.S.-Mexico border, a campaign promise that he has
made into a central issue. He ended the argument by saying he
was willing to make good on his repeated threat to shut down the
federal government over the issue.
"It's called transparency," Trump said, after Pelosi
protested about the public nature of the spat.
Congress is seeking to finalise spending before some federal
government funding expires on December 21.
While Trump's fellow
Republicans control both the House and the Senate until next
month, Democratic support is needed to pass any spending
legislation.
It was unclear how Trump would try to use the U.S.
Department of Defense to build the wall, given that defense and
military construction appropriation bills were signed into law
for the 2019 fiscal year without any wall funding.