Schumer caught on hot mic saying Trump ‘likes me’

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) was caught on a hot mic Thursday saying President Trump “likes me” one day after Democratic leaders met with the president to reach a framework agreement on a deal to turn the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program into law.

“He likes us. He likes me, anyway,” Schumer was overheard saying to someone on the Senate floor.

The audio was captured by C-SPAN and broadcast live on air. Schumer was also overheard explaining what he told Trump.

{mosads}“Here’s what I told him. I said, ‘Mr. President, you’re much better off if you can sometimes step right, and sometimes step left,’ ” Schumer said. “ ‘If you have to step just in one direction, you’re boxed.’ He gets that.

“Oh, it’s gonna work out,” Schumer continued. “And it’ll make us more productive, too.”

Schumer, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other Democratic congressional leaders had dinner with Trump on Wednesday night. After the dinner, the Democratic leaders released a statement saying they had agreed to work towards a deal to protect the recipients of DACA.

“We had a very productive meeting at the White House with the president,” Schumer and Pelosi said in a statement. “We agreed to enshrine the protections of DACA into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that’s acceptable to both sides.”

The White House disputed some details of the proposed deal. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said excluding the border wall “was certainly not agreed to.”

On Thursday, Trump said he is “fairly close” on a deal regarding DACA.

“We’re working on a plan — subject to getting massive border controls,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We’re working on a plan for DACA. People want to see that happen.”

The news follows another deal Trump made with Schumer and Pelosi last week to fund the government and raise the debt ceiling through December.