Cole says Democrats attempting ‘to blackmail’ Trump, Republicans in shutdown fight

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) on Sunday claimed that Democrats are attempting “to blackmail” the Trump administration and Republicans in a fight over a looming government shutdown.

“Almost every Republican in both chambers has voted to keep the government open. Frankly, almost every Democrat in both chambers voted to close it down,” Cole told NewsNation’s Chris Stirewalt on “The Hill Sunday.”

“So, I think it’s pretty simple to see Democrats are trying to blackmail the administration and Republicans in Congress to achieve an unrelated objective,” he added.

The top four congressional leaders and President Trump will meet Monday, a day prior to a Tuesday shutdown deadline, marking a significant shift after the president axed a meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) last week.

“We need a serious negotiation. Now, if the president at this meeting is going to rant and just yell at Democrats and talk about all his alleged grievances and say this, that and the other thing, we won’t get anything done, but my hope is it’ll be a serious negotiation,” Schumer told NBC News’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press” on Sunday.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) also said Sunday that Democrats have taken “the federal government as a hostage” amid tension over the looming shutdown.

“Thirteen different times, we did continuing resolutions in the Democratic majority. And in every case, they passed,” Thune said on “Meet the Press.”

“And what the Democrats have done here, is take the federal government as a hostage, and for that matter, by extension, the American people, to try and get a whole laundry list of things that they want, the special interest groups on the far left are pushing them to accomplish,” he added.