Washington DC - President Donald Trump taunted House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer with "Trump 2028" hats during failed talks to avoid a government shutdown.
Trump posted a series of photos on Tuesday night showing Jeffries and Schumer sitting in the Oval Office alongside a number of strategically placed "Trump 2028" hats.
The stunt was likely an attempt to troll the two Democratic leaders over fears that Trump intends to run again, despite the Constitution barring him from a third term.
In one picture, Trump is seen pointing at Jeffries and sneering as the hats are in full display.
According to Jeffries, the hats "randomly appeared" halfway through the meeting with little fanfare or context, but were not meant as a gift to the two Democrats.
"He did not try to hand Leader Schumer and I the Trump 2028 hat," Jeffries told CNN. "They just randomly appeared in the middle of the meeting on the desk. It was the strangest thing ever."
According to Jeffries, he turned to Vice President JD Vance, who was seated next to him and asked him if he had "a problem with this," to which the VP replied "No comment."
Trump points the finger at Democrats over government shutdown
The stunt came as Schumer and Jeffries met with Trump and other top brass in the administration to try to find a compromise on a stopgap funding bill, which, if passed, would have averted a government shutdown.
These talks failed, and consequently, the bill was not passed, and the US government entered a shutdown on Tuesday night.
Trump repeatedly trolled both Schumer and Jeffries over the days leading up to the shutdown, posting multiple racially-charged AI-generated videos featuring the latter with a mustache and, in one, a sombrero.