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Trump, top Democrats spar over govt shutdown

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Trump suggests Saudi crown prince had a hand in Khassoghi's murder as victim's body parts are found

There seems to be no end in sight just yet over partial government shutdown in the US after President Donald Trump and top Democrats in Congress sparred over the issue.

Reports say there is no sign of tangible efforts to reopen agencies closed by a political impasse over Trump’s demand for border wall funds.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, accused Trump of being under the sway of conservative House Republicans and blasted the White House for saying “different things about what the president would accept or not accept.”

Read also: US Senate hands Trump rare double rebuke over war in Yemen, murder of Khashoggi

“It’s Christmas Eve and President Trump is plunging the country into chaos,” Schumer and Pelosi said in a joint statement as the shutdown dragged through a third day.

“Meanwhile, different people from the same White House are saying different things about what the president would accept or not accept to end his Trump Shutdown, making it impossible to know where they stand at any given moment,” they said.

The latest development comes after Mick Mulvaney, the budget director and chief of staff to Trump revealed in an interview that the partial government shutdown in the US could continue to January 3, when the new Congress convenes and Democrats take over the House of Representatives.

The shutdown came in place after Trump and the US Congress failed to reach a deal on the proposed US-Mexico border.

Trump has demanded $5 billion as a down-payment on construction of a huge wall that he argues is the only way to keep illegal immigrants and drugs from entering the United States.

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