Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer alleged that President Trump called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a “third-rate politician.”
Democratic leadership met with Trump at the White House on Wednesday afternoon about the ongoing situation in northern Syria involving the Kurds and Turkey. Their meeting took place moments after the House, in a bipartisan fashion, approved a nonbinding resolution condemning the president for pulling troops from the area, which led to Turkey’s incursion.
Following the meeting, Democratic leadership spoke to reporters outside the White House.
[Related: ‘Spoiler’: Turkey’s Erdoğan positioned to be Putin ally in NATO]
“I would also say one other thing,” Schumer said. “He was insulting, particularly to the speaker. She kept her cool completely, but he called her ‘a third-rate politician.’ He said that there are communists involved and you guys might like that. This was not a dialogue. It was sort of a diatribe, a nasty diatribe not focused on the facts. Particularly the fact of how to curtail ISIS, a terrorist organization that aims to hurt the United States in our homeland.”
Differing from Schumer, Pelosi clarified that Trump instead called her a “third-grade politician.”
Pelosi clarifies that Trump called her a “third grade politician” in the meeting. Not a “third rate politician” as Schumer said
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) October 16, 2019
Pelosi also told reporters that the House’s impeachment inquiry into the president did not come up during their meeting.
