Donald Trump spurns infra talks with Democrats over ‘phony’ investigations

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump escalated his confrontation with House Democrats over their efforts to investigate his presidency, declaring he’d refuse to work with them on bipartisan policies including an infrastructure plan unless they halt their probes.

“Get these phony investigations over with,” Trump said he told House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday at the White House. Democrats said he stormed out of a scheduled meeting without letting them talk.

Minutes later, reporters were abruptly summoned to the White House Rose Garden, where a podium had been prepared for Trump to speak. He led off a lengthy, unscripted statement by complaining that Pelosi had accused him of conducting a “cover-up”.


“Instead of walking in happily into a meeting, I walk in to people who just said I was doing a cover-up,” Trump said. “I don’t do cover-ups.”

Congressional Democratic leaders were invited to the White House on Wednesday to discuss an infrastructure plan that they and the president have agreed may total $2 trillion. But the meeting ended abruptly in “high drama,” Senator Dick Durbin said, after American President walked in and announced he wouldn’t meet with them due to the ongoing investigations.