Government shutdown - LIVE: Trump walks out of meeting with Democrats 'in temper tantrum' when Pelosi 'said no to wall funding'

President trying to 'stoke fear and divert attention' from administration's woes, say opponents

Donald Trump 'slammed a table' and walked out when Democrats refused to agree to his border wall, says Chuck Schumer

Donald Trump has walked out of a White House meeting with Congressional leadership over the government shutdown after Democrats indicated they would offer no funding for his promised wall on the US-Mexico border.

“He asked [House] Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi, 'Will you agree to my wall?' She said no. And he just got up and said, 'Then we have nothing to discuss,' and he just walked out. Again, we saw a temper tantrum because he couldn't get his way,” Chuck Schumer, the leading Democrat in the Senate said.

Mr Trump tweeted the meeting was "total waste of time" and said he offered to open up the government for 30 days if Democrats supported the building of the wall.

Key Points

• Republican senators would back bill ending shutdown
• Most Americans blame Trump for impasse
• Border situation is 'crisis of the soul', president says
• Extended shutdown 'could risk US credit rating'

[9 January 2019 13:16 · Jon Sharman]

Democratic senator Tim Kaine has accused Mitch McConnell, the leader of the Republican majority in congress' upper chamber, of playing "political games".

Nonetheless, as we reported earlier, a number of Republican senators have lent their support to colleagues across the aisle.

[9 January 2019 13:41 · Chris Stevenson]

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive Democrat Congresswoman from New York has blamed Donald Trump's immigration policies for forcing people to become undocumented and helping create the situation at the border.

 

[9 January 2019 13:51 · Chris Stevenson]

Mexican President Andres Manual Lopez Obrador has said that he will not get involved in discussion of the wall that U.S. President Donald Trump wants to build at the U.S.-Mexico border, saying the subject is an internal US political matter.

Mr Lopez Obrador, who took office in December, has tried to keep away from issues in Washington during the early part of his term

[9 January 2019 14:06 · Chris Stevenson]

Here is a fact check of the Trump speech last night:

[9 January 2019 14:21 · Chris Stevenson]

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her fellow Democrats, who took control of the chamber last week, plan to advance a bill to immediately re-open the Treasury Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission and several other agencies that have been in partial shutdown mode.

Democrats are eager to force Republicans to choose between funding the Treasury's Internal Revenue Service (IRS) - at a time when it should be gearing up to issue tax refunds to millions of Americans - and voting to keep it partially shuttered.

In a countermove, the Trump administration said on Tuesday that even without a new shot of funding, the IRS would somehow make sure those refunds get sent.

[9 January 2019 14:33 · Chris Stevenson]

In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders has said Mr Trump is still considering a declaration of a national emergency to circumvent Congress and redirect government funds towards his promised border wall.

[9 January 2019 14:48 · Chris Stevenson]

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He is a piece from The Independent's Hamish McRae on how the border wall issues may affect Donald Trump's economic policy.

[9 January 2019 15:03 · Chris Stevenson]

Republican Representative Will Hurd of Texas has said that if Mr Trump is calling the situation at the border, then he should make sure that the government is paying those who have to deal with it.

“If this is a crisis,” Mr Hurd - who represents a district on the border - said, “the people dealing with this crisis should get paid.”

[9 January 2019 15:16 · Chris Stevenson]

Trump aide Kellyanne Conway has been following the White House line this morning - calling the Democrat accusations of a "manufactured" shutdown "insulting"/

 

[9 January 2019 15:31 · Chris Stevenson]

Here are some more quotes from Sarah Sanders on the border wall:

Ms Sanders was asked why the President did not declare a national emergency despite describing a "crisis" at the border. She said it's still a possibility

"Something that’s still on the table," she said. "The best solution is to work with Congress to get this done because you can close a lot of the loop holes, fund border security fully and that’s what we’re hopeful to do.”