US Politics: Democrats say Trump had 'serious meltdown' during White House meeting

Tradefair
17 October 2019

Trump's war of words with Democrats continued this week

Trump has faced criticism for withdrawing troops from Syria

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A White House meeting to discuss the current situation in Syria broke down when Donald Trump had a "meltdown" and launched a "diatribe" against Nancy Pelosi, top Democrats say. Tradefair brings you the latest from US politics...

"This was not a dialogue, it was sort of a diatribe, a nasty diatribe not focused on the facts,"

- Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer

Relations between Donald Trump and top Democrats have reached a new low, after a meeting at the White House descended into name calling and ended with Democratic Party leaders walking out.

The meeting was called to discuss the current situation in Syria - specifically the president's decision earlier this month to withdraw US troops from the north of the country, which his opponents say allowed Turkey to launch a cross-border offensive against Kurdish-led forces in the region.

Trump has defended his move, saying it is "not our border", but there are fears the withdrawal of American troops and destabilisation of northern Syria could lead to the resurgence of the Islamic State group.

A 'very serious meltdown'

The White House briefing to discuss the conflict between Turkey and Syria, and what role the US should play in it, came shortly after the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to condemn the president's withdrawal of American forces from northern Syria.

Democrats and Republicans came together to approve a non-binding resolution showing Congress' opposition to the troop pullback, which passed by a majority of 354-60.

In her account of the White House meeting, House speaker Nancy Pelosi said the president appeared visibly "shaken up" after the majority of his fellow Republicans voted to condemn his decision on Syria.

She also raised concerns about Trump's health after witnessing what she described as a "very serious meltdown on the part of the president".

Pelosi's comments were echoed by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, who said the president was "insulting" and called the House speaker a "third-rate politician".

"This was not a dialogue, it was sort of a diatribe, a nasty diatribe not focused on the facts," he added.

House majority leader Steny Hoyer also condemned Trump's behaviour, saying he had never seen a president behave so disrespectfully towards his fellow politicians.

Trump hits back

Trump and his Republican allies were quick to give their own account of the meeting, claiming it was Pelosi and the Democrats who disrupted proceedings.

The president used similar language to that used by Pelosi, saying the House speaker "needs help fast".

"There is either something wrong with her 'upstairs', or she just plain doesn't like our great country," he tweeted. "She had a total meltdown in the White House today. It was very sad to watch. Pray for her, she is a very sick person!"

Trump also posted a picture of the meeting, with the caption "Nervous Nancy's unhinged meltdown", which Pelosi then used as her own Twitter cover photo.

White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said Pelosi's decision to walk out of the meeting was "baffling but not surprising", and accused Democrats of having "no intention" of participating in a discussion about national security.

As far as the situation in Syria is concerned, Trump has continued to defend his decision to withdraw American troops from the north of the country. He told reporters the US is "not a policing agent", adding: "It is time for us to go home."

Details also emerged of a letter the president had sent to his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, urging him to resolve the Syria invasion in a humane way.

"You don't want to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people, and I don't want to be responsible for destroying the Turkish economy - and I will," Trump wrote.

The US leader also told Erdogan: "Don't be a tough guy. Don't be a fool!"

Erdogan threw the letter in the bin and "thoroughly rejected" its contents, sources told the BBC.

Impeachment proceedings

The latest deterioration in relations between Trump and senior Democrats comes amid further developments in the ongoing impeachment inquiry into the president.

A series of witnesses have been called to appear before three House committees leading the proceedings, including George Kent, the deputy assistant secretary of state, who gave testimony earlier this week.

The investigations are largely focused on a July phone call between the US president and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, during which it's claimed Trump pressured Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden, one of the front-runners for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff said this week there had been "dramatic progress in answering some of the questions surrounding that July telephone call".

Elsewhere, Trump faces challenges such as the drawn-out trade war between the US and China, which continues to cause uncertainty for businesses and economies around the world.

It was also announced this week that US retail sales had dropped unexpectedly in September, which contributed to slight falls on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite index on Wednesday.

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