Senator Warren Receives Surprise Phone Call From President After Nicknaming Him A
President Donald Trump was listening as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) described him as a “wannabe dictator” during an event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Monday.
During her remarks, Warren called the president’s failure to confront America’s affordability crisis a “betrayal of working people” and asked what he has done to address soaring housing costs, rising grocery prices and rising utility bills.
The senator called on Trump to take action while addressing obstacles to the ROAD to Housing Act passed by the Senate, which aims to facilitate construction regulations and boost housing supply, but is currently pending consideration in the Republican-led House of Representatives.
Noting how a little nudge from the president could get House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to send the bill to committee, he asked, “And where is Donald Trump? Has he lifted a finger to move that bill forward in the House?”
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“He sure knows how to talk on the phone when he doesn’t like what they’re doing with Epstein’s files,” Warren continued. “He knows how to get on the phone when he doesn’t like what someone is trying to do with Venezuela. But is he on the phone to say move that housing bill so we can start right now, today, expanding more housing in the United States? No.”
Warren’s plea must have caught the attention of someone in the White House, because after her speech, she issued a statement saying she received a phone call directly from the president that same Monday.
“I directly delivered this same message about affordability,” he said of the conversation. “I told him Congress can pass legislation to cap credit card rates if he really fights for it.”
“No more delays. It’s time to provide help to American families,” his message continued.
The chat, which White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described as a “good call” to the Washington Post, was reportedly the first time the president called the senator directly, according to the outlet.
There is a well-known history of animosity between Trump and Warren.
For years, she has been mocked for controversial claims about her Native American heritage with the nickname “Pocahontas.” Warren seemed to be on Trump’s mind a lot last summer, when he called her “a bad, horrible human being,” a “liar” and a “loser.”