A former White House adviser in his new book describes the first meeting between President Trump and congressional Republican leaders as tense, with one exchange reminiscent of the movie “Goodfellas.”
Cliff Sims, who served on the communications team in the White House, writes in “Team of Vipers: My 500 Extraordinary Days in the Trump White House” that Trump and Republican leaders held their first legislative strategy meeting in February 2017.
As leaders laid out priorities like repealing the Affordable Care Act, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) warned Trump that Congress would be “doing this without any Democratic votes,” according to an excerpt published by Politico. Sims added that Trump suggested Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) might side with the GOP, which led to a testy exchange with McConnell.
“Do we have to go after him like that?” Trump asked, according to Sims.
“Absolutely, Mr. President,” McConnell responded. “We’re going to crush him like a grape.”
Sims describes “a brief silence—maybe a half second—when the atmosphere in the room felt like the scene in ‘Goodfellas’ when no one can tell how Joe Pesci is going to react to Ray Liotta calling him ‘funny.’ ”
“This guy’s mean as a snake!” Trump said of McConnell, prompting laughter in the room, Sims writes.
The Senate effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act later failed by one vote, with no Democrats voting for the proposal and three Republicans opposing it.
Trump and McConnell have had a largely friendly relationship in public, aside from early in Trump’s presidency when he explicitly called out the Senate leader for failing to repeal the Affordable Care Act.