US President Donald Trump has abruptly cut his scheduled meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said earlier on Wednesday that Trump and his team are engaged in a "cover-up," The Hill reported. The two politicians were supposed to discuss details of legislation on a major $1 trillion infrastructure investment plan negotiated three weeks ago.
"I've said from the beginning that you probably can't go down two tracks," Trump said during the meeting. "You can go down the investigation track or you can go down the investment track… We're going to go down one track at a time."
"I don't do cover-ups," Trump said, before walking out of the Oval Office.
"To watch what happened in the White House would make your jaw drop," Schumer, who also attended the meeting, told reporters. "It's clear this was not a spontaneous move on the president's part. It was planned."
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump sent a letter to Pelosi and Schumer saying he would not work on infrastructure legislation until Congress passed the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.
Responding to the abruptly-ended meeting, Nancy Pelosi said that "in any event, [she prays] for the president of the United States and [she prays] for the United States of America."
"I respect the courts, I respect Congress, I respect right here where we're standing. But what they've done is abuse," he said, according to The Hill.
Later Wednesday, Trump took to Twitter to blast Democratic lawmakers for "tearing the US apart," while praising his administration for setting "records for the American people." He called on Pelosi, Schumer and other Democrats to "finish playing their games," referring to numerous investigations initiated by the House of Representatives' panels into Trump, his alleged obstruction of justice during the Mueller probe, and his tax returns.
Trump thanked, Pelosi for her prayers, adding that he knows she "means it."
Schumer, however, viewed Trump's Wednesday move as an attempt to evade discussion of certain details of the infrastructure bill.
"He is looking for every excuse," the top Senate Democrat told reporters. "Hello, there were investigations going on three weeks ago when we met and he still met with us. But now that he was forced to actually say how he would pay for it, he had to run away."