Schumer 'appalled' over Trump letter: 'Stop the pettiness'

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Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he was "appalled" over a letter from President Trump, in which the president criticized the Democratic leader as a "bad" senator and vulnerable to a primary challenge from the left.

Trump released the letter to Schumer after the New York senator sent his own letter asking the president to name a military official as a "czar" to oversee production and disbursement of medical equipment and invoke the Defense Production Act.

"I spoke to the president late this afternoon and explained it and the result is this letter. So I'm just appalled. You know I say to the president just stop the pettiness. People are dying and so, President Trump, we need leadership. We need to get the job done. Stop the pettiness," Schumer told MSNBC's Chris Hayes on Thursday night.

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Schumer and Trump spoke twice by phone this afternoon, according to the Democratic senator's office.

After Schumer explained what actions he was requesting Trump take, the president, according to Schumer's office, "said he was already in the process of sending a 'very nasty letter' to Sen. Schumer, but he would try to stop it from going out and would apologize to Sen. Schumer if he didn't stop it in time."

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Trump lashed out at Schumer in his letter, accusing him of using "incorrect sound bites" when talking about the administration's efforts.

"If you spent less time on your ridiculous impeachment hoax, which went haplessly on forever and ended up going nowhere (except increasing my poll numbers) and instead focused on helping the people of New York, then New York would not have been so completely unprepared for the 'invisible enemy.' No wonder AOC and others are thinking about running against you in the primary. If they did, they would likely win," Trump wrote.

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