Trump is reportedly 'consumed' with media coverage of his showdown with Chuck and Nancy

Trump, Pelosi, and Schumer in the Oval Office

(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

published 14 December 2018

There was lots of legal news about President Trump on Thursday. None of it was good.

A day after Michael Cohen was handed jail time for crimes he said he committed on Trump's orders, NBC News placed Trump in the room where apparently illegal campaign finance violations were plotted, The Wall Street Journal said federal prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into Trump's inaugural committee, and The Daily Beast reported that Special Counsel Robert Mueller was investigating possible Trump campaign collusion with Israel and Saudi Arabia, not just Russia. Maria Butina admitted to being a Russian agent and affirmed she is cooperating with U.S. prosecutors in a case about Russian 2016 campaign meddling.

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At the same time, people close to the White House described the president as less consumed this week about the investigations than the media coverage of a contentious meeting he had with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). "He was annoyed with how that meeting was playing out," one person close to the White House said. Network shows have repeatedly played clips of Mrs. Pelosi correcting the president on how many votes he has in the House and on his characterization of her. [The Wall Street Journal]

Trump and Pelosi were discussing a looming government shutdown over Trump's demands for $5 billion for a border wall. "With Trump fueling the border wall brinkmanship, everyone in the Capitol has basically stopped talking," Politico reports. "The House and Senate left town Thursday with no strategy to avert a partial government shutdown next week, putting Congress on the brink of an intractable conflict that could drag out through New Year's Day — furloughing hundreds of thousands of workers and costing taxpayers millions."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.