President Trump, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif), and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) bickered about border funding in an Oval Office meeting that turned supremely awkward. Even more awkward was the 15 times Trump interrupted Pelosi during the Tuesday meeting.
Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and the nation's top two Democrats met to discuss the looming government shutdown. Trump has said he won't sign the bill funding the government next year unless it includes $5 billion in funding for a border wall. Democrats have so far promised Trump only $1.6 billion.
Trump started the meeting with more than five minutes of uninterrupted spinning on the supposed benefits of a border wall. Yet just 20 seconds after he invited Pelosi to speak, Trump jumped in and questioned why she was calling this a "Trump shutdown." Another 10 seconds, another interruption. And the frequency only escalated from there, reaching 15 total interruptions.
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The tension came to a head when Trump launched a few more rapid-fire interruptions, and finished by saying "it's not easy for [Pelosi] to talk right now." Pelosi calmly fired back: "Please don't characterize the strength that I bring to this meeting."
Meanwhile, when he asked Schumer to speak, Trump waited 40 seconds before talking over the senator. Schumer just interrupted Trump in return, and the two devolved into something just short of a shouting match. Pence, meanwhile, spent more than 16 minutes without saying a word.
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