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US President Donald Trump has angrily lashed out at Democratic leaders’ claims he is engaged in a “cover-up.”
“I don’t do cover-ups,” the Republican president said in an unscheduled statement from the White House.
His remarks came after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met fellow Democrats to discuss impeaching the president.
Mr Trump is fighting congressional inquiries by ignoring subpoenas, withholding documents and blocking testimony by current and ex-advisers.
The president spoke minutes after cutting short a planned meeting with the two top Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill.
The trio were due to discuss infrastructure spending, a rare possible area of bipartisan agreement between the White House and its political antagonists.
But Mr Trump abruptly left the discussion with Mrs Pelosi and her Senate counterpart Chuck Schumer after just five minutes.
Mr Trump then appeared in the Rose Garden to make a surprise statement, condemning the “phoney investigations” by Democrats.
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The president also charged his political opponents with “abuse” and railed against their invoking of “the big i word”, a reference to impeachment.
According to CBS News, Mr Trump walked into the meeting with Mrs Pelosi and Mr Schumer and did not shake either’s hand or sit down.
An unnamed source familiar with the confrontation said Mr Trump told the House speaker that her comments earlier in the day about a cover-up were “terrible”.
The president told them Democrats needed to end congressional investigations against him before he would discuss anything else, then abruptly left the room.
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Reuters
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (centre) and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (right) speak to the media
In a news conference immediately following Mr Trump’s, Mrs Pelosi said the president “wasn’t really respectful of the Congress and the White House working together”.
“In any event, I pray for the President of the United States and I pray for the United States of America,” she said.
Mr Schumer added: “We were interested – we are interested in doing infrastructure. It’s clear the president isn’t. He is looking for every excuse.”
The New York senator accused Mr Trump of “running away”.
“When we got in the room, the curtains were closed,” Mr Schumer said.
“There was a place for him at the front so he could stand and attempt to tell us why he wouldn’t do infrastructure, and of course, then he went to the Rose Garden with prepared signs that had been printed long before our meeting.”