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Dem Leaders Leave White House Meeting After 'Nasty Diatribe'

'The Do Nothing Democrats, Pelosi and Schumer stormed out!' Trump tweets

October 17, 2019

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) walked out of a meeting at the White House Wednesday.

The Democratic leaders spoke to reporters right after their meeting on Syria and Turkey, saying President Donald Trump had insulted them instead of discussing foreign policy.

"He was insulting, particularly to the speaker," Schumer said. "She kept her cool completely, but he called her a third-rate politician. He said 'there are communists involved [in Syria], and you guys might like that.' I mean this was not a dialogue, it was sort of a diatribe. A nasty diatribe, not focused on the facts."

Pelosi subsequently said Trump called her a "third-grade politician" not a "third-rate politician."

Hoyer also described how the Democratic leadership felt offended by the president. 

"You're going to hear the president say we walked out," he said. "We were offended deeply by his treatment of the speaker of the House of Representatives."

"I have been in many, many, many meetings like this. Never have I seen a president treat so disrespectfully a coequal branch of government of the United States," Hoyer added. 

Trump tweeted an image of the spectacle, calling out the Democrats for not being willing to work with him.

"The Do Nothing Democrats, Pelosi and Schumer stormed out of the Cabinet Room!" Trump said.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1184600576245583873

Rep. Adam Smith (D., Wash.) told CNN that he stayed in the White House meeting and had a successful discussion related to Syria, Turkey, and ISIS after his party's leaders left. 

"The policy is really important here," Smith said Wednesday evening. "Because we did mostly, after the speaker and the majority leader left and also the minority leader in the Senate, we did have a substantive discussion about what's the plan here? What are you going to try to do with Turkey? What are you going to try to do to protect us from ISIS?"