Trump touts shutdown plan, but advisers say 'no one knows what he will do' [View all]

[DonViejo]

The president was slated to spend the day speaking by phone to staff and lawmakers, and he took to Twitter to demand Democrats come back to Washington.

By NANCY COOK 01/12/2019 05:48 PM EST

President Donald Trump said Saturday he was alone in the White House with a plan at the ready to reopen the federal government, but close White House advisers and staff said they remained in the dark about how he would end the three-week partial shutdown.

Trump was slated to spend the day speaking by phone to staff and lawmakers, one White House official said. In the meantime, it remained unclear how long he would let the longest shutdown in the nation’s history drag on or whether he planned to declare a national emergency in the coming weeks to secure the funding he has demanded for a wall at the U.S.’s southern border, according to four advisers and staff reached by POLITICO.

“No one knows what he will do, and the president has not decided yet, so it keeps everyone guessing,” said one Republican close to the White House. “This could go on another week and he could declare an emergency, or this will go on until February.”

The president did not have any public events listed on his schedule for Saturday and Sunday. With weather forecasters predicting several inches of snow in Washington, golf — one of Trump’s favorite past times — seemed out of the question.

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https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/12/trump-government-shutdown-plan-1098681