President Trump on Thursday said Democrats should go around House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and negotiate with him on border security.
“While many Democrats in the House and Senate would like to make a deal, Speaker Pelosi will not let them negotiate. The party has been hijacked by the open-borders fringe,” the president said during a speech at the Pentagon on missile defense. “Hopefully, Democratic lawmakers will step forward to do what’s right for our country.”
His comments came a day after Mrs. Pelosi told Mr. Trump to postpone the State of the Union speech, slated for Jan. 29, as long as the partial government shutdown is still going on.
Mr. Trump has not responded to that demand specifically.
Instead, he said he wants to try to negotiate over the border security issues that have sparked the shutdown — but he said Mrs. Pelosi won’t talk.
The president has tried to hold two meetings at the White House including some Democrats this week. One meeting drew no Democrats, but a second, involving the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, did involve some Democrats.
They agreed to the meeting but in a statement said there can’t be any negotiations until the government is fully opened.
Mrs. Pelosi, for her part, has said even after the government is open, she won’t agree to any money for a border fence.
“I’m not for a wall,” she told reporters Thursday.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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