Donald Trump says he refuses to work with Democrats unless they stop investigating him and lift the threat of impeachment.
The US president cut short a meeting with Democratic leaders about an infrastructure plan after just a few minutes yesterday.
Then, in a hastily arranged press conference in the Rose Garden outside the Oval Office, he said: “Instead of walking in happily into a meeting, I walk into, look at people that have just said that I was doing a cover-up.”
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In a tirade which CNN said showed Trump’s “deepening rage with Democrats”, he added: “I don’t do cover-ups. You people know that probably better than anybody.”
He was apparently referring to House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who had told reporters that he was “engaging in a cover-up”.
Talking directly about allegations that he colluded with Moscow during the 2016 election, he continued: “We did nothing wrong. They would have loved to say we colluded... they were out to get us. The crime was committed on the other side. We will see how that all turns out.”
A poster declaring “no collusion” was affixed to his podium, underneath the presidential seal.
Minutes later, Democrats had their say. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said that what happened at the White House would “make your jaw drop” and suggested that Trump had planned the entire stunt in advance.
Pelosi added: “Maybe it was lack of confidence on his part, he couldn’t match the greatness of the challenge that we have. He just took a pass and it just makes me wonder why he did that. In any event, I pray for the president of the United States and I pray for the United States of America.”
Trump faced a significant blow later in the day when a New York judge ruled that he would not block recent congressional subpoenas demanding the US president’s financial records from two banks.
“I will not enjoin enforcement of the subpoenas,” Judge Edgardo Ramos said, after hearing arguments from lawyers for Trump and Congress.
CNN said: “It just got harder for Donald Trump to keep his tax returns a secret”, while The New York Times said Trump’s “financial secrets” have moved “closer to disclosure”.
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