WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says the Democratic Party has been “hijacked” by those opposed to his plan for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border as he seeks to turn up pressure on his political rivals over an ongoing partial government shutdown.
Speaking at the Pentagon on Thursday, Trump said the government remains shut down because congressional Democrats refuse to approve border security. He claims that Democrats in the House and the Senate are willing to negotiate with him to make a deal to reopen the government but “Speaker Pelosi will not let them negotiate.”
Democrats have been largely unified in opposition to Trump’s border wall, which Trump is insisting on funding as a condition of reopening the government.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi isn’t saying what she’ll do if President Donald Trump insists on delivering a State of the Union address during the partial government shutdown.
The California Democrat said Thursday she’s received no response to her letter suggesting Trump postpone the address while thousands of federal workers are unpaid. Asked whether she’d allow the speech to go forward Jan. 29 if Trump insists on delivering it, Pelosi replied, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
Pelosi says the federal employees required to secure the event in the House of Representatives should be paid for the work.
The U.S. Constitution says the president “shall from time to time” deliver a state of the union address to Congress.
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