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U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would take the blame for a partial government shutdown if he can't reach a deal with Democrats to fund his border wall, the Washington Examiner reports.

"I am proud to shut down the government for border security because the people of this country don't want criminals and people that have lots of problems and drugs pouring into our country," Trump said at a meeting in which he and Democratic leaders openly feuded about the border wall.

"So I will take the mantle," he told Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "I will be the one to shut it down. I'm not going to blame you for it."

"If we don't get what we want one way or the other ... I will shut down the government," Trump said.

Trump's comments came near the end of a tense, televised meeting between the three in which Democrats made it clear they don't support Trump's demand for $5 billion in border wall funding.

Both Schumer and Pelosi were already blaming Trump for a possible shutdown earlier in their public discussion.

Republicans have shied away from government shutdowns for the last several years, over fears that they have received most of the blame for the failure of Congress to fund all federal agencies on time.

But Trump appears to be prepared to test that position. Trump has said for weeks that he wants $5 billion to aid construction of a border wall or other impediments to crossing into the U.S., and would not sign a bill that falls short.

Congress has until Dec. 21 to either negotiate a solution or delay a solution until next year. If no agreement is reached, funding for the Department of Homeland Security and a handful of other agencies would expire, and those agencies would be at least partially shutdown.