Combative in public, Trump administration and congressional leaders negotiate behind the scenes on coronavirus relief

The president and the speaker haven’t spoken in months, while the president is openly taunting the Senate’s top Democrat about a potential primary challenge more than two years away. The top Republicans have direct channels to the president but don’t share the same big-spending appetite as the leader of their party.

The core five leaders in Washington — President Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) — and their interactions with one another have come under scrutiny amid the coronavirus outbreak, as the pandemic continues to swamp the nation, killing thousands of Americans and plunging the U.S. economy into crisis.

Yet for all the public signs of discord, communications and coordination between congressional leaders and the Trump administration have hummed along, compensating for the dysfunctional relationship — or the outright lack of one — between Trump himself and the top two Democrats on Capitol Hill. Continue reading.