It sure doesn't sound like Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney is holding his breath for an infrastructure deal.
Mulvaney spoke at the Milken Institute's Global Conference on Tuesday at the same time that Trump was meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to begin negotiating an infrastructure bill. But Mulvaney cast some doubt on the bill ever actually coming to pass, saying that Democrats might just want to "make a show for trying to get a deal" and that if the discussions didn't go well, "it would not surprise me," per The Hill.
Mulvaney also said he isn't sure a deal can be successfully negotiated while Democrats are investigating the president, saying they have to choose to "legislate or litigate" but can't have it both ways. "If I'm suing you on one deal, are you likely to do another deal with me at the same time?" he asked. "Probably not."
Schumer ended up telling reporters after the meeting that there was a lot of "good will" in it, something that will probably surprise Mulvaney, who said that having kidney stones is "better than going to the meeting with Chuck and Nancy at the White House."