Another person in the room was Trump’s congressional relations chief, Marc Short, who is a former president of a Koch brothers’ pro-immigration group. On September 12, he suggested the president should trade his campaign promise of a border wall in exchange for tax-breaks sought by CEOs. On a Friday MSNBC show, Short admitted the September 13 seating was deliberate when he answered a question from MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson about Pelosi being ignored by other politicians at the meeting, saying:
I was there, Hallie … The conversation was one that was very friendly and very jovial, and I don’t recall any conversation about women being left out of the conversation. In fact, we seated Nancy Pelosi right next to the president so her opinions could be heard.