Trump aide says Schumer needs to ‘up his game’ amid shutdown

White House budget director Mick Mulvaney fired back at Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Saturday after the senator said negotiating with the president was like “negotiating with Jell-O.” 

“Mr. Schumer has to up his game and be more honest with the president of the United States if we are going to be seeing progress on that front,” Mulvaney told reporters at the White House. 

{mosads}Mulvaney was referencing Schumer’s claim that he offered to put President Trump’s request for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border “on the table” at a White House meeting on Friday.

“Chuck Schumer actually had the gall to look at the president and said ‘I am giving you everything you asked for the wall’ and then, when pressed, he admitted that he was not doing it,” he said. 

“That’s the type of the negotiation that Mr. Schumer has been engaged in with the president. You have to ask yourself, at what point does it become profitable to work with somebody like that?” he continued. 

Schumer said the president agreed to try for a four- or five-day government stopgap spending measure to give him and congressional leaders just enough time to reach a deal.

Trump changed his mind, however, according to Schumer.

“Several hours later he called back. He said, ‘So, I hear we have a three-week deal.’ I said, ‘No, Mr. President, no one is even talking about a three-week deal,’ ” the minority leader said. 

Schumer’s communications director, Matt House, fired back at Mulvaney after the press briefing on Saturday and accused him of lying. 

Director Mulvaney was not in the lunch, and is not telling the truth.

Period, full stop. https://t.co/n7L00LNErE

— Matt House (@mattwhouse) January 20, 2018