The shutdown meeting when he walked out. Exactly, thats according to two democratic sources with knowledge of that meeting. Well hear from Senator Schumer and Speaker Pelosi any moment now. But thats it for me. Andrea mitchell picking things up right now. Ill see you tomorrow morning. What a day. Craig melvin, thank you. Good day. Im Andrea Mitchell in washington. We are awaiting comments at any moment from House Speaker nancy pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. Moments after President Trump suddenly appeared in The Rose Garden to lash out at them, pouncing on Comments Pelosi had made this morning, that the president had engaged in a coverup, comments she made in part to slow her own caucus march to impeachment. The president walking out of that prearranged meeting over infrastructure and trade with pelosi and schumer, and leading democrats on capitol hill. Heres part of it. Instead of walking in happily into a meefg, i walk into look at people that had just said
that i was doing a coverup. I dont do coverups. Weve had a house investigation, we had senate investigations, we have investigations like nobodys ever had before and weve done nothing wrong. These people were out to get us. The Republican Party and President Trump. And nancy pelosi about to respond with Chuck Schumer on what happened when he walked out on them in the oval office. Good morning, everyone. This morning, we went to the white house for a followup meeting with the president , followup to a meeting we had a few weeks ago, where we agreed on a dollar figure, where we agreed on the percentage of 80 20, in terms of responsibility, and we discussed some priorities about infrastructure. It was agreed at that time that we would return today to talk about how we would cover the cost of such a proposal. Last night, in the time in between, the president was making some sounds that would question how serious he could be if he was saying what he was saying, and last night he put forth a letter saying that unless we passed the u. S. Mexico Canada Free trade agreement, there was no reason for us to you know, we couldnt go forward with infrastructure. We didnt see those two as related, but the fact is, hopeful, optimistic, and seeing the necessity for a big Infrastructure Initiative for our country, we went in the spirit of bipartisanship to find Common Ground with the president on this. He came into the room, made a statement that he made, i wont even characterize it, but i will say this, and what i said after he left, Thomas Jefferson, when he was president of the United States tasked his Secretary Of The Treasury, gallatin, to put
forth an infrastructure proposal, initiative for the country. It would follow the lewis and clark expedition, the louisiana purchase, it would be about the erie canal, the cumberland road, things like that to build into america. 100 year to date later, a hundred years later, Teddy Roosevelt did his infrastructure Big Initiative and it was called the establishment of the National Parks service, the Green Infrastructure of america. We had hoped that we could give this president an opportunity to have a signature Infrastructure Initiative to create jobs, to improve the quality of life, to just do so much for our country on the ongoing not only the jobs it created by building, but the commerce it would promote. And that included roads and bridges and mass transit
well, broadband into Rural America and other underserved areas, clean water, waste water, all of the things that have numerous needs. The American Society of Civil Engineers says its in the trillions, the deficit we have, were talking about a couple billion dollars. For some reason, maybe it was lack of confidence on his part, that he Really Couldnt Match the greatness of the challenge that we have, wasnt really respectful of the reason of the congress and the white house working together. He just took a pass. And it just makes me wonder why he did that. In any event, i pray for the president for the United States of america. Im pleased to yield now to the
distinguished democratic leader of the senate, mr. Schumer. Well, thank you, Speaker Pelosi. And to watch what happened in the white house would make your jaw drop. We democrats believe in infrastructure. We believe our roads and bridges need repair. We believe that Rural America, as well as inner city America Needs broadband. We believe that bring clean, new Energy Around the country we need a power grid modernized and updated. We believe in modernizing our Transportation Fleet with electric cars. We believe in all of these things. And so despite signals in the previous few weeks, that he might not be serious, we went forward. We came here very seriously. The president asked in his letter last night, where would democrats spend the money on infrastructure . I was prepared to give him a 35page plan detailing this in
all the areas i mentioned and more, that have the broad support of senate and House Democrats. We were interested. We are interested in doing infrastructure. Its clear the president isnt. He is looking for every excuse, whether it was lets do trade first, or whether it was, hes not going to pay for any funding, or whether today, that there are investigations going on. Hello, there were investigations going on three weeks ago when we met. And he still met with us. But now that he was forced to actually say how hed pay for it, he had to run away. And he came up with this preplanned excuse. And one final point, its clear that this was not a spontaneous move on the president s part. It was planned. When we got in the room, the curtains were closed, the president there was a place for him at the front, so he could stand and attempt to tell
us why he wouldnt do infrastructure. And of course, then he went to The Rose Garden with prepared signs that had been printed up long before our meeting. We want the president to do infrastructure. We want our congress to perform its Constitutional Responsibilities and create jobs, create income, create wealth for the average american. We can do both. Its clear the president doesnt want to do any of that. I just would add this one thing that we had a very distinguished delegation to the congress, very powerful house and senate, as you can see, distinguished leader on the appropriations committee, senator patty murray, mr. Carper, the Ranking Member on the committee of jurisdiction that oversees some of what were talking about here, richey neal, the chairman of the ways and Means Committee in the house. Our distinguished democratic leader in the house, steny
hoyer. Wheres dick durbin . Is he this way . The senate whip, whatever the title is in the senate. Number two. Debbie stabenow of michigan, leader on all of these issues in her committees in the congress. Our assistant speaker, mr. Ben ray lujan of new mexico. Our Distinguished Whip of the house, Democratic Whip of the house, mr. Clyburn, the chair of the i love saying chair, the chair of the Transportation Infrastructure Committee appropriate to this discuss, mr. Defazio, and the top democrat on the Finance Committee in the United States senate, ron wyden. So we came with heft, with commitment, with knowledge, we hoped with a shared vision of
creating this great Jobs Initiative for our country. And the spirit of president eisenhower, when he substituins the interstate highway system. It was important for jobs and mobility. It was a National Security initiative and it was bipartisan. Lyndon johnson and sam rayburn in the house and senate, the president of the United States, dwight eisenhower, we had hoped that we could do something comparable. Unfortunately, the president isnt ready for that. Thank you all very much. Well, joining me now, peter alexander, Nbcs Kelly Odonnell on capitol hill, joyce vance, former u. S. Attorney and an msnbc contributor, matt miller, former Chief Spokesperson to attorney general eric holder and
an nbc justice and security analyst, usa today Washington Bureau chief, susan page, and Washington Post political reporter, eugene scott. Peter alexander, first to you. It does appear that this was preplanned, they had the posters all planned. He has been tweeting all night and all morning about the democratic investigations. He said that he came into The Rose Garden because nancy pelosi koo accused him of a coverup. Reporter yeah, there may have been some degree of planning, obviously, andrea, because we were handed these as we exited The Rose Garden. This was basically one of the signs that was on the podium. The key sound bite from President Trump today was i dont do coverups, which of course ignores the facts that he had involvement with a series of Hush Money Payments to former playmate and to a porn star to try to buy their silence over the course of the 2016 campaign. It also reminds me of what we heard from this president in that first news conference, the day after the midterm election, andrea, where he was pressed
what he would do if democrats pursued investigations. He said, in effect, if they do that, for us, it would be a warlike posture, this is, from President Trump, a warlike posture. But its also a bookend, in many ways. Because youll remember late last year, where there was that contentious visit with nancy pelosi and Chuck Schumer in the oval office, with the president , where he said, basically, he would take the blame. He would be the one responsible for a shutdown on the issue of border security. Well, today, basically, he said, im willing to say, were not going franywhere on infrastructure, as long as the democrats wont move forward and get over it in terms of their investigations. The democrats tried to make hay with that, trying to capitalize on that today, and the sound bite that everyones going to be talking about as it relates to the democrats is nancy pelosi saying at the end of her remarks, i pray for the president of the United States, i pray for the country. Indeed. And peter alexander, when you talk about, i dont do coverups, theres also the fact that he has been refusing to let
his current and former aides testify, refusing to turn over documents that have been demanded, including the tax returns, which are argue blip under a real legal mandate and more on that to come, and also, refusing to grant an interview to Robert Mueller, which plays into all of that, right . Reporter youre exactly right. Hes consistently says hes been the most transparent president of all. He didnt sit down with Robert Mueller, even though mueller desired that, requested for that to happen. Instead, he provided written answers. He said they were out to get us. And about this claim hes made repeatedly about the effort to investigate the investigators, where hes even referred to some of those investigators as treasonous, saying they committed treason, when that rose garden event was over, i yelled to him a couple of questions that he ignored. One was, if youve been cleared, why not let Robert Mueller testify . He walked away. And separately, i asked him, as it related to this separate issue, i asked him broadly
about you know, i was peppering with him a lot of questions. I think it was whether or not he had read the Mueller Report. That was another one of them that we asked him in that moment that he didnt answer. We also asked him who he was accusing thats it. Who he specifically was accusing of treason. He said in his remarks that it hopes it will come out well, but he doesnt think so. While hes claiming there was treason, hes acknowledging that he doesnt know. What a morning for you guys over at the white house. And meanwhile on capitol hill, kelly odonnell, first to you. Youve got some insights into what happened in that oval office meeting, beyond what we heard from nancy pelosi and Chuck Schumer. Reporter a senior democratic aide says to me that pelosi herself said that she knew the president was not serious about infrastructure and would find a way out. As the president left the meeting. That was reflected in her oncamera remarks. And i think part of what well take away from this day, andrea, is not only the words and the unexpected nature of everything
that played out, but the imagery that was cast here. The president standing alone in The Rose Garden, which is sort of the solitary nature of being president. There may be strength in that, according to his supporters, there may be isolation in it. And then on capitol hill, the Speaker Of The House, the leader of the democrats in the senate and so many of their Leadership Team standing together and describing the scene at the white house in terms that cast the president in a very dark and isolated fashion. That is both in the way they described the room, the words, and so the imagery of this day, i think, will stand out beyond just how were covering this back and forth. Speaker pelosi may have contributed by saying that the president is engaged in a coverup. Certainly, he knew last night, as he described it, that there would be this meeting this morning for all democrats to talk about impeachment and investigations. That window of time from last night to todays event certainly
enough to do the posters and the planning. But the coverup phrase was something new that happened right before the House Speaker went to the white house, and clearly, that agitated the president. From the democrats side of those weve been able to talk to, in the minute since this unfolded, theyve described the president as having been late, they described his mood in sort of dark terms. And as we heard the speaker say, trying to find a way to give the president an opportunity for an achievement in infrastructure, while all of this other stuff is swirling on capitol hill. She thought there might be a path for that. Clearly the president said that that is an obstacle that he cannot tolerate, as far as negotiations and so forth. So the state of governance right now has boiled down to dueling Press Conferences, a lot of emotion, and some very tough feelings on both sides of pennsylvania avenue. Andrea. Kelly, thank you so much. And of course, our chief
congressional correspondent, kasie hunt, up there and in the room when nancy pelosi and Chuck Schumer came in. Do they have any concerns that the president has a bigger megaphone than they do, and he can say, i want to get stuff done, but they were just engaged in investigations and name calling, which is not polling very well. Reporter thats always a concern, andrea, and its always one of the central challenges of being a leader here on capitol hill, instead of being in what weve long called the bully pulpit, even before what may be the quintessential embodiment of that afraid entered the white house. So that is a potential challenge for them. And i think you saw, when they first started, trying to get underway on this Infrastructure Package. You know, a pretty remarkable moment from schumer and pelosi, when they went to the white house and they said, hey, we really want to do this. I think that they know that showing the American People, you know, what their agenda is, that they are actually focused on
being for something instead of just against someone is an incredibly important political calculation. Now, that said, it seems pretty obvious, kind of, how this all played out. And where, you know, those stronger set of emotions were coming from. I mean, Nancy Pelosis words here, the fact that she said that the president was engaged in a coverup, that was actually messaging that came out of that meeting that they were holding on impeachment. Elijah cummings, the chairman of the Oversight Committee has urged his colleagues to use that phrase to kind of take a stronger stance toward the president , even if