With less than two weeks for lawmakers to cut a deal on money for a border wall to avert another shutdown, President Donald Trump bashed Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for refusing to give in.
In a “Face the Nation” interview set to air Sunday, Trump told host Margaret Brennan the congresswoman was engaging in “very bad politics” in hopes of scoring “a political point.”
“I think that she was very rigid, which I would expect, but I think she’s very bad for our country,” he said. “She knows that you need a barrier. She knows that we need border security.”
Though the federal government reopened following a 35-day shutdown triggered by the border wall fight, Pelosi is standing firm in her opposition to Trump’s demand for more than $5 billion for the project. As both sides dig in their heels, whether an agreement will be reached remains unclear.
Meanwhile lawmakers have until Feb. 15 to compromise before a second shutdown begins.
In defending the wall, Trump recited his usual list of talking points, claiming drugs are “pouring in” and that there are “people dying all over the country because of people like Nancy Pelosi who don’t want to give proper border security for political reasons.”
Pelosi reinforced her stance against money for a wall at a Thursday press conference where she assured reporters, “There’s not going to be any wall money in the legislation.”