Even as he invited Democrats to negotiate, the vice president essentially blocked potential offramps for the shutdown, which is approaching the longest in American history.
The partial government shutdown is nearing the end of a third week, and President Trump was scheduled to head to Texas with no additional negotiations scheduled.
The partial government shutdown is nearing the end of a third week, and President Trump was scheduled to head to Texas with no additional negotiations scheduled.
If the president invokes emergency powers to build a wall, it could be a mutually face-saving way to reopen the government, but also a violation of constitutional norms.
President Trump slammed a table, then stormed out of a negotiating session with Democrats, declaring it “a total waste of time” as the shutdown stretches on.
President Trump’s relentless demands for a wall could divide Democrats over border security alternatives, so they are sticking to what unifies them: Reopening the government.
The president used his first prime-time Oval Office address to contend that the illegal flow of immigrants and drugs had become a crisis, a notion Democrats dismissed.