Flake: Not Helpful for Trump to Be Involved in Discussions

Republican Sen. Jeff Flake on Sunday said he doesn’t think it would be helpful for President Donald Trump to get involved in government shutdown discussions.

“I just don’t think it helps for him to be involved at all," he said outside the Senate chamber. “The White House really hasn’t been involved from what I’ve seen.”

Flake outside the chamber says the stalemate continues and doesn’t want Trump to intervene: “I don’t think it’s helpful for him to be involved right now”

— Robert Costa (@costareports) January 22, 2018

“It's going to be very difficult to pass anything out of the House without the President’s support. Our hope is to pass something in the Senate that then gets the President’s support," he added. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has a 1 a.m. cloture vote scheduled for Monday if an agreement isn’t reached before then and Flake on Sunday confirmed it would still take place at that time. 

Democrats on late Friday filibustered a Republican bill to fund the government in order to secure a deal for DACA recipients. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) allowed people who illegally came to the United States as children with their parents to stay if they met certain criteria. President Donald Trump in early September announced he was ending DACA and giving a gridlocked Congress until March to decide what happens to the 800,000-plus young people affected.