Trump walks out of shutdown negotiations after Democrats reject wall money, calls meeting total waste of time

U.S President Donald Trump has walked out of a meeting with Democratic leaders as negotiations broke down on the 19th day of a US government shutdown.

The Republican president ended talks after Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer stuck by their refusal to fund his planned US‑Mexico border wall.

Just left a meeting with Chuck and Nancy, a total waste of time. I asked what is going to happen in 30 days if I quickly open things up, are you going to approve Border Security which includes a Wall or Steel Barrier? Nancy said, NO. I said bye-bye, nothing else works!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2019

Trump called his meeting with the pair "a total waste of time".

Some 800,000 federal workers will go without pay this week for the first time since the shutdown began.

The president tweeted afterwards that he had said "bye‑bye" to the top Democrats.

Outside the White House the blame game was in full flow from both sides after yesterday's meeting in the Situation Room, a conference centre in the West Wing basement.

Pelosi, who is speaker of the House of Representatives, said the legion of unpaid federal employees were "collateral damage" to Trump.

[Source: BBC]