'It's like a manhood thing for him': Pelosi comments on Trump and his wall

US President Donald Trump debates with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, left, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, right, as Vice-President Mike Pence listens. Photo / The Washington Post

Moments after returning to Capitol Hill after an Oval Office standoff with US President Donald Trump, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi questioned Trump's manhood and said the border wall was a matter of masculine pride.

"It's like a manhood thing for him. As if manhood could ever be associated with him. This wall thing," said the California congresswoman.

Pelosi made the remarks in a Democratic caucus committee meeting, which were recounted by an aide present who was not authorised to comment publicly.

She told colleagues that she was "trying to be the mum" in the room while Trump and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer bickered about the coming funding showdown.

But she described Trump's admission during the 17-minute on-camera tete-a-tete that he would be "proud" to shut the government as a political triumph.

"The fact is, we did get him to say, to fully own, that the shutdown was his," she said, according to the aide. "That was an accomplishment."

Said Trump at the meeting, "I am proud to shut down the government for border security . . . I will be the one to shut it down, I'm not going to blame you for it."

Pelosi's encounter with Trump came as she continues to try and win votes among fellow Democrats to be elected speaker next month.

In a tweet today and at the Oval Office meeting, Trump made reference to that contest, suggesting it was a reason Pelosi would not negotiate on wall funding.

But Pelosi's performance in the meeting stands to improve her chances of winning support among fellow Democrats, and her remarks to colleagues sought to highlight how she believed she and Schumer had won the upper political hand.

She used a similar line in October during an event at Harvard University's Institute of Politics, where she said the wall "happens to be like a manhood issue for the President, and I'm not interested in that".

Pelosi also described to colleagues how the Oval Office meeting concluded, according to the aide: "He said, 'We can go two routes with this meeting - with a knife or a candy.' I said, 'Exactly'. "

Trump gives the Democrats the best soundbite they could possibly hope for: "Yes, if we don't get what we want...I will shut down the government. ... I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I'm not going to blame you for it." pic.twitter.com/e4xbjlMvwj

— David Mack (@davidmackau) December 11, 2018

Trump did not like that Nancy Pelosi called it the "Trump Shutdown."

— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) December 11, 2018