George Stephanopoulos coolly backs Sarah Huckabee Sanders into a corner over Trump's hand in the shutdown

Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos was a man of relatively few words during his interview with White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday morning, but what he did say raised serious questions about President Trump's own potential hand in the ongoing government shutdown.

Sanders began the interview by using Stephanopoulos' opening question to blast Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) for the shutdown. "I know sometimes members like Sen. Schumer need a little help and guidance getting through big policy negotiations like that," she told Stephanopoulos, "but the president's laid out what he wants and if they need help understanding it, we'd be happy to send some people over there to explain it to them."

Stephanopoulos didn't take the bait. "Do you really want to be questioning Sen. Schumer's knowledge of this legislation?"

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Sanders laughed the question off, but Stephanopoulos followed up by asking why Trump hasn't called "everyone down to the White House today, Democrats, Republicans, together in the Oval Office."

"The president has been engaged," Sanders replied. "Different circumstances call for a different type of leadership."

"No meetings this weekend, Sarah," Stephanopoulos simply interrupted. Watch the full back-and-forth below. Jeva Lange