President Donald Trump showed Democratic congressional leaders the back of his hand on Wednesday, ending a planned meeting on infrastructure legislation before it began and venting publicly instead about their vows to investigate him and possibly impeach him.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had accused him hours earlier of presiding over a 'cover-up.'
'I don't do cover-ups,' Trump told reporters standing in the White House Rose Garden. 'You people probably know that better than anybody.'
He said wouldn't work with Pelosi or Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer until they stood down.
'When they get everything done, I'm all set to – let's get infrastructure, let's get drug prices down. In the meantime we're doing excellent work without them,' Trump said.
President Donald Trump spoke to reporters in the Rose Garden on Wednesday after cutting short a planned meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer; he said he won't work with them as long as they're pursuing a carefully crafted plan to investigate and impeach him
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters that she's praying for Trump and was amazed at the way the president ended the scheduled sit-down
Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer claimed the president's storm-out was a setup and he never intended to negotiate over infrasctructure spending in the first place
The president hasn't budget from the position he took last November, one day after Democrats won control of half of Congress in an election that was seen as a referendum on his brand of Washington chaos.
Asked if he would be able to 'compartmentalize' legislative work if the new Democratic majority 'start[s] investigating you,' he responded: 'No. ... If they do that, then it's just – all it is, is a warlike posture.'
On Wednesday Trump tried his best to escalate the fight.
'It's sad. This meeting was set up a number of days ago at 11 o'clock. All of a sudden I hear last night they'll have a meeting, right before this meeting, to talk about "The I-word," he said, referring to impeachment over claims that he obstructed justice.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller dismissed Democrats' claims that his campaign colluded with Russians in 2016, but left it to Trump's own Justice Department to determine whether to charge him with obstruction for allegedly trying to impede the Russia probe.
'The I-word! Can you imagine? Idon't speak to Russians about campaigns,' Trump said. 'When I went to Wisconsin and Michigan and Pennsylvania, I don't say, "Let's call Russia." ... It's a hoax. The greatest hoax in history.'
Trump told hte press that he had entered
