Dayton details (brief) time with Trump
Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton has spoken out forcefully in opposition to many of the policies advanced by the new administration of Republican President Donald Trump. But Dayton, a two-term Democrat, described a cordial exchange the two had in their first face-to-face interaction.
Fresh off a trip to Washington, Dayton on Tuesday shared a few details about his limited encounter with the president. Trump met with the nation's governors and hosted them for a dinner at the White House over the weekend.
It was at the dinner where Trump engaged Dayton, albeit briefly.
"He said, 'I almost won Minnesota, I would have if I had gone in there one more time.' I didn't engage on that," Dayton said.
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Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton beat Trump in Minnesota by 1.5 percentage points, or about 45,000 votes. It's closer than most Republicans have come in a presidential race in a state that Democrats have won in every election since 1976. Trump won neighboring Wisconsin, which also had a long Democratic winning streak entering 2016.
Dayton said he shifted the conversation.
"I picked up on the fact that he had been invited by the president of U.S. Steel to come up to the Iron Range and look at the mining operation there," Dayton said, "and I reiterated that we would welcome him to Minnesota any time."
Dayton said he also had meetings in Washington with Trump's secretaries of the treasury, health and human services and homeland security as well as the administrator of the environmental protection agency.
"There's a great deal of uncertainty and a great deal of anxiety among governors, both parties," Dayton said mentioning Medicaid funding and trade policy as key areas of concern.