Democratic leaders said Wednesday they had to walk out of a White House meeting on Syria, saying President Trump had a “meltdown,” offered no plan to recapture Islamic State fighters and called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a “third-rate” politician.
Mr. Trump also suggested that Democrats “might be happy” about the fact some ISIS fighters have communist leanings, the Democrats told White House reporters.
“This was not a dialog,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said, calling it a “diatribe.”
The Democratic leaders said they decided to leave because the president was treating Mrs. Pelosi disrespectfully.
House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer said he’s worked with six presidents, and “never had I seen a president treat so disrespectfully a co-equal branch.”
Republicans who emerged from the White House said Democrats were the ones who behaved poorly.
If Mrs. Pelosi had stayed behind instead of storming out, she would have seen a productive meeting in which generals outlined plans to keep a small residual force in Syria to protect U.S. interests, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said.
Mr. McCarthy scolded the speaker, saying it’s “unbecoming” of her to walk out of meetings, even if they get heated.
“I do not believe in that process, you get up and walk away,” said the California Republican, noting there were some congressional Democrats who stayed in the room.
Earlier this year, Mr. Trump walked out of an infrastructure meeting with Democrats at the White House out of frustration with investigations into his presidency.
On Wednesday, members of Congress went to the White House moments after the House rebuked Mr. Trump for pulling U.S. troops from the path of a Turkish incursion on American-allied Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria.
Members of both parties say the move will invite chaos, undermine faith in American troops and allow the Islamic State to reemerge.
Mrs. Pelosi said Mr. Trump appeared to be “shaken” by the congressional rebuke.
Mr. Schumer also said Mr. Trump, as a New Yorker who’s seen terrorism firsthand, should understand the threat that ISIS fighters pose.
He asked Mr. Trump for a plan to secure ISIS prisoners who escape near the Turkey-Syria border, but “he didn’t really have one.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.