Trump, aides seek to resolve shutdown with congressional leaders

President Trump spoke with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Saturday to discuss measures to end the government shutdown.

White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told reporters the two leaders spoke in the morning, but did not provide other details about the call.

Trump also spoke with Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) around midday, according to White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. 

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Chief of staff John Kelly is reaching out to members of Congress by phone from the White House and legislative director Marc Short and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney traveled to Capitol Hill to meet with congressional leaders.

The shutdown has cast a cloud over the first anniversary of Trump’s inauguration.

Gidley said the president will remain in Washington as long as the government is closed, meaning he will likely miss a high-dollar anniversary fundraiser on Saturday night at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla.

Back in Washington, the shutdown triggered a partisan blame game.

The president and his GOP allies say Democrats are responsible, accusing them of holding government funding hostage in order to extract legal protections for roughly 700,000 immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children.

The White House has said it will not negotiate on immigration until the government reopens. 

Trump on Saturday morning blamed Democrats for the shutdown, saying they “could have easily made a deal.” 

Democrats have rejected that argument, saying Republicans control both chambers of Congress and the White House. The last time government funding lapsed under single-party rule was during Jimmy Carter’s presidency. 

They also said the “Art of the Deal” author has been an unreliable negotiator. Days after Trump said he would “take the heat” to back an immigration deal, he rejected a bipartisan agreement to address the fate of young immigrants and bolster border security. 

-Update 1:09 p.m.