Democrats call on 'disengaged' Trump to get involved to end shutdown

As the government shutdown crosses the three-week mark, Democrats are increasingly calling on President Donald Trump to get more involved in finding a solution.

WASHINGTON — As the government shutdown crosses the three-week mark, Democrats are increasingly calling on President Donald Trump to get more involved in finding a solution.

And some Republicans acknowledge that Trump has been disengaged and say it wouldn’t hurt if he got more involved.

"Hakeem and I reached out to the president today and urged him to sit down and negotiate with us to resolve the health care crisis, address it and end the Trump shutdown,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters Tuesday, referring to his House counterpart, Hakeem Jeffries of New York. “We urged him to meet with us, and we said we’ll set up an appointment with him any time, any place before he leaves.”

And as Republican senators ate cheeseburgers at a private lunch meeting with Trump on Tuesday, there was little discussion of the shutdown, several of them said afterward.

“He mentioned it briefly, but my sense is that nothing’s changed,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. “We’ll talk about all the issues the Democrats want to talk about once the government reopens.”