Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Thursday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” that outgoing Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) instinctively knew how to handle former President Donald Trump because she raised five children and “he ultimately was a child.”
Reporter Jamie Gangel said, “I want to talk about how the two of you navigated working with former President Trump. He famously nicknamed the two of you Chuck and Nancy, right? It was always Chuck and Nancy. I think you both knew that Speaker Pelosi got under his skin, right? Was there a strategy when you went into a meeting? Was there a good cop/bad cop?”
Schumer said, “We sort of set him up instinctively. We didn’t plan this. Everyone thought we planned this out. It was about the government shutdown the first time, and Nancy said something to him about he didn’t understand.”
Pelosi said, “Chuck was masterful. He was masterful.”
Schumer said, “She set him up so I could go in for the kill.”
Pelosi said, “He was masterful. He is talking to him about the government shutdown and about immigrants and the rest.”
Schumer said, “I said, so Mr. President, will you own the shutdown? He says, ‘Yes, I will.’ That was it.”
He added, “He doesn’t know what he is up against. I tell people Nancy instinctively knew how to handle Trump because for her first, you know, 35, 40 years of life, she raised five children, and she knew how to deal with children. And that’s what helped her deal with Trump because he ultimately was a child.”
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