Trump calls on aides in middle of presser to vouch for him amid Pelosi spat

President Trump attacked Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday for accusing him of storming out of a meeting at the White House the previous day after he demanded an end to congressional investigations into his administration.

While speaking at a press conference about federal aid for U.S. farmers, Trump turned to several White House aides who were present for the meeting with Pelosi the previous day to relay their view of his conduct during the brief meeting.

{mosads}”Does anyone know Sarah Huckabee Sanders?” Trump asked the room to laughter while flanked by several U.S. farmers. “Sarah, we’re just talking about the meeting yesterday … the narrative is I was screaming and ranting and raving … just out of curiosity, you were there, what was my tone at the meeting?”

“Very calm, I’ve seen both and this was definitely not angry or ranting,” Sanders, the White House press secretary, responded to laughs in the room.

Trump summons @presssec to talk about how calm he was at meeting with Chuck and “Crazy Nancy.” Says Pelosi waved her arms around like Beto. pic.twitter.com/IdTEtiCJnL

— David Rutz (@DavidRutz) May 23, 2019

As the press conference unfolded, Trump called on several other White House officials to weigh in, including deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley, economic adviser Larry Kudlow, counselor Kellyanne Conway and communications aide Mercedes Schlapp.

“Kellyanne, what was my temperament yesterday?” he asked Conway.

“Very calm. No tamper tantrum,” she responded.

Trump’s comments came after Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) held their own press conference following Wednesday’s meeting, telling reporters that they were shocked that the White House was apparently unwilling to support a $2 trillion infrastructure deal unless Democrats dropped various investigations into Trump’s finances and into whether the president obstructed justice in the special counsel probe.

“We had hoped that we could give this president an opportunity to have a signature infrastructure initiative to create jobs, to improve the quality of life, to just do so much for our country,” the Speaker said Wednesday after the meeting.

“For some reason, maybe it was lack of confidence on his part that he really couldn’t match the greatness of the challenge that we have, wasn’t really respectful of the Congress and the White House working together, he just took a pass,” Pelosi added. “It just makes me wonder why he did that.”

Trump and Pelosi continued to exchange barbs on Thursday, with the Democratic leader suggesting that Trump’s family stage an “intervention” for the sake of the country, while the president questioned her mental stability, saying “she’s lost it.”