Trump Scorches Democrats As Pelosi Broaches Prospect Of 'Impeachable Offense'

Negotiations over a potential infrastructure program fizzled on Wednesday as a White House meeting between President Trump and Democrats escalated into blame-trading and political threats — including impeachment.

The president was the first to appear after the session in a Rose Garden availability that he used to renew his call for Democrats to abandon investigations into him if they want to negotiate over improving the nation's roads and bridges or other legislation.

"I told the Democrats ... I want to do infrastructure," Trump said. "I'd be really good at that. It's what I do. But we can't do it under these circumstances. Get these phony investigations over with."

The president appeared behind a lectern that had been decorated with placards including details about special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation and Trump's leitmotif: "No collusion. No obstruction."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., appeared on Capitol Hill shortly after Trump's press conference.

In their telling, Trump was never serious about an infrastructure program.

The president had no proposal for how to finance billions of dollars in new spending, Schumer said. He described a setup inside the White House that Schumer said showed that Trump had decided beforehand that he wasn't going to negotiate, but instead simply tell Democrats no and then walk out to talk to reporters.

"There were investigations going on three weeks ago when we met — and he still met with us," Schumer said. "Now that he was forced to say how he would pay for it, he had to run away. And he came up with this pre-planned response."