Kevin McCarthy: Pelosi stormed out of an otherwise productive White House meeting while other Democrats stayed

After Democratic congressional leaders left a White House meeting about the situation in northern Syria on Wednesday, other Democrats who remained ended up having an otherwise productive meeting on foreign policy and military strategy, according to a top House Republican.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., walked out of the bipartisan meeting and told reporters that President Trump subjected Speaker Pelosi to a "nasty diatribe" and called her a "third-grade politician." Trump later responded to Pelosi, calling her a "very sick person" and saying that she had her own "meltdown" in the room. The president also shared a photo of Pelosi standing up and waving her finger at him during the meeting.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., however, said that Pelosi stormed out after making her own unproductive comments and that the other Democrats who stayed ended up having a productive meeting.

"I see a pattern of behavior with Speaker Nancy Pelosi," McCarthy told reporters outside the White House after the meeting. "She storms out of another meeting, trying to make it unproductive; the other Democrats stayed and actually had a very productive meeting" with the president and Pentagon officials.

"Unfortunately, the speaker tries to make everything political," McCarthy added. "Her own statements weren't productive. To storm out of a meeting, which I've watched time before during other [crises], is really not the ability of a speaker or the style of how a speaker should carry herself out."

The minority leader also accused of Pelosi being more focused on impeachment than on "the issues that most Americans are concerned about."

"Here we are with an issue that shouldn't be about Republican or Democrat; it should be about American first," McCarthy said. "And the only thing I found, those who would stay in the room, are those who care the most for the process of solving this problem — making sure that America is safe."

#mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px}

/* Add your own MailChimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block.

We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */