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Chuck Schumer said he agreed to fund border wall to prevent shutdown — but here's the truth
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he agreed to Trump's wall on the Senate floor after a meeting with President Trump, but a New York Times report confirmed Schumer only agreed to discuss the possibility of the wall after a bill was passed and after Democrats' demands were met first. (Image via Twitter @CNNPolitics screenshot)

Chuck Schumer said he agreed to fund border wall to prevent shutdown — but here's the truth

Just minutes after midnight Saturday morning, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) took to Senate floor to explain the concessions he made with President Donald Trump during a meeting earlier in the day.

However, reporting from the New York Times seems to partially contradict Schumer's account.

What did Schumer claim?

During his speech, Schumer detailed the meeting he had with Trump over cheeseburgers at the White House earlier in the day. Schumer said it was a "lengthy and substantive" discussion about keeping the government open.

That's when the top Senate Democrat explained what concessions he allegedly made during the meeting, including, he explained, granting Trump his border wall.

"In exchange for strong DACA protections, I reluctantly put the border wall on the table for discussion," Schumer claimed on the Senate floor. "Even that was not enough to entice the president to finish the deal."

But the Times' extensive report on the effort to strike a deal told a different story.

What did the report say?

According to the Times, Schumer only agreed to discuss the "possibility" of the wall if Trump conceded on DACA and met his other demands first.

From the Times:

As the [cheeseburger] meal progressed, an outline of an agreement was struck, according to one person familiar with the discussion: Mr. Schumer said yes to higher levels for military spending and discussed the possibility of fully funding the president’s wall on the southern border with Mexico. In exchange, the president agreed to support legalizing young immigrants who were brought to the United States as children.

Mr. Schumer left the White House believing he had persuaded the president to support a short, three to four-day spending extension to finalize an agreement, which would also include disaster funding and health care measures.

Essentially, if the Times' account of the meeting is correct, Schumer only agreed to later discuss what Trump and the GOP wanted if he got everything that he wanted first.

Indeed, after a closed-door meeting Friday evening, Senate Democrats accused Trump of moving "hard right" after he and Schumer were close to inking a deal.

However, the White House has pushed back against that claim contending that Democrats are putting "politics above our national security, military families, vulnerable children, and our country’s ability to serve all Americans" while demanding their requests be unilaterally met.

"Senate Democrats own the Schumer Shutdown," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.

(H/T: Biz Pac Review)

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