In a letter she sent to colleagues in Congress Wednesday afternoon, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California) derided President Donald Trump’s actions after a meeting between Democratic leaders and the president broke down earlier in the day.
Pelosi’s letter at times seemed directed toward Trump himself, pointing out the opportunity he missed in creating a legacy for himself in calling off the meeting on infrastructure.
“We wanted to give the President the opportunity to launch an historic infrastructure initiative that could stand in the pantheon of American history alongside the bold initiatives of Presidents Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Dwight Eisenhower,” Pelosi wrote.
NEW … in letter to colleagues, @SpeakerPelosi says @realDonaldTrump had a “temper tantrum” today. Says she wanted to work w trump — obviously that didn’t work out. pic.twitter.com/JOBwFTUEUg
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) May 22, 2019
Pelosi noted that some probably didn’t think she and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) should have even tried negotiating with Trump. Yet she expressed the importance of being “For The People” to “create good-paying jobs” through the infrastructure program they had intended to work with the president on, striving to show how that was more important than partisan politics.
It wasn’t meant to be — and Pelosi put the blame squarely on Trump.
“Sadly, the only job the President seems to be concerned with is his own,” Pelosi wrote. “He threatened to stop working with Democrats on all legislation unless we end oversight of his Administration and he had a temper tantrum for us all to see.”
Earlier in the day, Trump held an impromptu press conference at the White House after storming out of a meeting with Pelosi and Schumer, citing the ongoing investigations into him and his administration as making him unable to hold any negotiations with Democrats on infrastructure or any other bipartisan deals.
“I walked into the room and I told Sen. Schumer and Speaker Pelosi that I want to do infrastructure…but I can’t do it under these circumstances,” Trump said, per a previous report from HillReporter.com.
Schumer later responded by doubting the president’s sincerity over the matter. “There were investigations going on three weeks ago when we met,” he pointed out after Trump’s impromptu speech. “And he still met with us.”
Schumer was also skeptical over the spontaneity of the president’s speech on Wednesday.
“It’s clear that this was not a spontaneous move on the president’s part. It was planned,” Schumer said.