That s changed dramatically. he respected her. he told people around him he thought she was a first rate politician, not a third rate. that of course has not really come to pass as they ve developed a very adversarial relationship goaded on by some of the investigates this year with the democrats launching probe after probe and the white house stonewalling at every turn and now of course the impeachment inquiry which has really changed things. and i think this explosion happened at a syria meeting is not a coincidence either because that topic is one of the very few where republican senators have been very vocal about breaking with him, including some of his staunchest allies like lindsey graham. and while still unlikely enough senators would defy the rank and file as you all know is very high, but if he is impeached it would be the republican senator whose have his fate in their hands. they re the ones who would vote
Military. and you talk to anybody in the military or national security and they have the utah most respect for jim mattis. and jim mattis has been very restrained and very reluctant to speak out until now. but, again, here s a president who is acting out of glandular impulse making decisions of life or death while clearly ignoring and now insulting his own generals. it s a moment where, again, perhaps we re not learning anything new about who donald trump is, but it certainly underlines it in a very dramatic way. you mentioned your sense of trump s frustration just at the presence of the impeachment inquiry. that it was him versus pelosi in that meeting today. does that say anything because i can remember in sort of the fist couple of years of his presidency it wasn t that he was friendly with pelosi but he seemed to be less hostile to here than some other folks and
Resurge if the u.s. fails to keep pressure on it. trump called mattis, quote, the world s most overrated general. the white house responded to the democrats portrayal of the meeting saying in a statement, quote, the president was measured, factual and decisive in the meeting. i m joined now by jonathan lemire, white house reporter for associated press and shar lei sykes, editor at large for the bullwork. this meeting set the scene here, pelosi, schumer, hoyer, there were some other democrats there meeting with the white house. the subject here was syria, was foreign policy and what happened? well, we ve now had a few rather eventful meetings between the president and speaker pelosi and leader schumer at the white house. some of it ended rather abruptly like this one. yes, you re right, the topic was syria. but as they got in there the president sort of bitterly started complaining about the impeachment proceedings and that is something that s really come to light in recent weeks.
Effectively interfere in the 2020 elections thereby soliciting foreign interference in a future election. in the context of withholding without any legitimate reason or explanation $391 million in congressionally authorized funding for ukraine. ukraine s a friend, russia is a foe. ukraine is a democracy, russia is dictatorship. russia right now is backing separa separatists who have invaded the eastern portion of ukraine. that country is a in a vulnerabluation and yet all of this was unfolding in that context. the president used a high pressure tactic and we need to get information that he s free to present to potentially explain away his behavior. if not, it s very damning as it relates to the wrongdoing. congressman hakeem jeffries, thank you for joining us. and coming up, democratic leaders walked out of a white house meeting just a short time ago after what nancy pelosi
Behavior as a melt down. earlier today the house of representatives voted what? 354-60 opposition to the actions he has take in syria. he was shaken up by it. we have to pray for his health because this was a serious melt down on the part of the president. the president came in to my observation angry and defensive. and frankly, it got worse from there. he was insulting, particularly to the speaker. she kept her cool completely. but he called her a third rate politician. what can i say, i wish you were a politician, mr. president. i think it s a very sad commentary on the president of the united states. now, nbc news reports that during the meeting the president suggested there were communists in syria and said the democrats would like that. he also went after his former defense secretary jim mattis for his comments that isis would