Republican leaders were "shell-shocked" on Wednesday when President Donald Trump abruptly sided with Democrats on adding hurricane relief and money to keep the government open to a short-term bill raising the debt ceiling, CNN reported.
GOP leaders were "shell-shocked" and "visibly annoyed," sources told CNN when Trump opted to back a plan by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
"The President was in deal-cutting mode," one Republican said. "He was sick of this fight."
The Oval Office confab was the first such meeting between the president and members of both parties.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republican leaders pushed for a longer-term deal where the debt ceiling would be raised for 18 months. They then dropped that to a year, then six months.
Democrats insisted on three months.
Trump's Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was in the middle of arguing for a longer period when Trump cut him off and sided with the Democrats.
McConnell and Ryan were "blindsided by this," a source told CNN.
Trump's daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump joined the meeting at one point to sell the child tax credit, at which point some Republicans became "visibly annoyed," CNN quoted one source.
Asked about it later, Ryan denied that characterization.
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