A Charge of ‘a Cover-Up,’ a Trump Tantrum and the Gears Grind to a Halt

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/22/opinion/trump-pelosi-schumer.html

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Late Wednesday morning, President Trump headed into what was supposed to be a meeting with congressional Democrats on how to fund a $2 trillion infrastructure package he and they had agreed on last month. Instead, he spent three minutes berating Democratic leaders for saying unpleasant things about him, before proclaiming that he would not work with them until they stopped investigating him.

Mr. Trump then strode out to the Rose Garden, where the news media had been hastily assembled to hear him deliver a similar message, and delivered another tirade about the illegitimacy of the special counsel’s Russia investigation. “This whole thing was a takedown attempt at the president of the United States,” he asserted. Affixed to his lectern was a printed sign declaring, “NO Collusion. NO Obstruction.”

The proximate cause of Mr. Trump’s outrage was an accusation by the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, made earlier in the day, that he “is engaged in a cover-up.”

“I don’t do cover-ups,” he said in his Rose Garden remarks.

Rather than talk roads and bridges, the president issued a challenge: “I told Senator Schumer and Speaker Pelosi, ‘I want to do infrastructure. I want to do it more than you want to do it. But, you know what? You can’t do it under these circumstances. So get these phony investigations over with.’ ”

Put another way, don’t expect any progress on any legislation any time soon.

This week has been particularly vexing for the president in his continuing oversight struggle with Congress. A federal judge ruled against his efforts to block a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee for his business records — a decision the president is appealing. The House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Hope Hicks, a former top aide to the president and a member of his inner circle, and another former White House aide, Annie Donaldson, who was a key witness in the investigation by the special counsel, Robert Mueller. The Department of Justice has agreed to turn over some documents related to the Mueller report to the House Intelligence Committee. Mr. Trump’s lawyers are in court fighting to block a congressional subpoena of his records with Deutsche Bank, his lender of last resort. (A federal judge ruled against Mr. Trump in the bank case late Wednesday.) And New York State lawmakers approved a bill allowing Congress to obtain Mr. Trump’s state tax returns.

There’s visible strain on the Democratic side of the fight as well. Ms. Pelosi is under growing pressure to move forward with impeachment. While a majority of her caucus remains opposed, Mr. Trump’s moves to stonewall all investigatory efforts are adding to frustration. Even some members of the speaker’s leadership team, albeit at the lower levels, have jumped on the impeachment bandwagon. Ms. Pelosi’s “cover-up” allegation, made immediately after a caucus meeting, was explicitly intended to placate restive elements of her caucus in an attempt to head off a revolt.

Where does everyone go from here? Since taking over the House, Democrats have been adamant that they can pursue a dual-track strategy of working with the president on shared policy aims, even as they investigate his administration. Mr. Trump has effectively blown up that plan. Policy discussions are not possible, he said, as long as he is under investigation. “We’re going to go down one track at a time,” he said.

Obviously, the investigations will continue. So if policy is off the table, how will Mr. Trump spend his days? Go into full campaign mode? Spend more time visiting his properties? More executive time? Perhaps he will immerse himself in foreign affairs, where he doesn’t have to worry so much about congressional meddling.

And Ms. Pelosi? “I pray for the president of the United States,” she said after the aborted meeting with Mr. Trump. “And I pray for the United States of America.”

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