On the eighth day of the partial government shutdown, Donald Trump invited Democrats to "come on over and make a deal on Border Security."
On Saturday, the president took to Twitter to blast Democrats for "spending so much time on Presidential Harassment" as the shutdown enters its second week with no steps taken to end the stalemate.
"I am in the White House waiting for the Democrats to come on over and make a deal on Border Security," Trump tweeted. "From what I hear, they are spending so much time on Presidential Harassment that they have little time left for things like stopping crime and our military!"
I am in the White House waiting for the Democrats to come on over and make a deal on Border Security. From what I hear, they are spending so much time on Presidential Harassment that they have little time left for things like stopping crime and our military!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29, 2018
Trump's tweet comes a day after the president held a closed-door dinner with Vice President Mike Pence, his son-in-law Jared Kushner and incoming acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney at the Naval Observatory in Washington D.C. on Friday night.
A partial government shutdown—which has affected approximately a quarter of U.S. government departments—began at midnight on Friday after the president declined to sign a stop-gap measure to keep the government running through New Years Day on the basis that it did not provide funding for his proposed wall along the border of Mexico and the U.S.
Trump's move came after a group of his far-right allies—including Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh—urged him to shut the government down.
Last weekend, Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said: "Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House. But instead of honoring his responsibility to the American people, President Trump threw a temper tantrum and convinced House Republicans to push our nation into a destructive Trump Shutdown in the middle of the holiday season."
"President Trump has said more than 25 times that he wanted a shutdown and now he has gotten what he wanted," they added.
Since then Trump's aides have claimed that Democrats have abandoned the negotiating table, while Democrats assert that the president's administration have not contacted Pelosi directly in weeks, reported Associated Press.
During his unannounced trip to visit troops in Iraq this week, Trump suggested that Democrats are only opposed to the wall because he was the one to demand it. "The Democrats don't want to let us have strong borders, only for one reason. You know why? Because I want it," the president said.
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