The Democratic minority leader, who is expected to become Speaker next month, made the comments after speaking with the president at the White House.
ADVERTISEMENTHouse Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, speaking to Democrats behind closed doors on Tuesday, said President Donald Trump's "manhood" got in the way of their Oval Office meeting in which he threatened to shut down the government if Congress doesn't fund his border wall.
"It's like a manhood thing for him — as if manhood could ever be associated with him — this wall thing," Pelosi said, a Democratic aide who declined to be named told NBC News.
Pelosi, who is expected to become the House Speaker next month, made the comments at a meeting of the Steering and Policy Committee after she and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer spoke with Trump at the White House about the border wall and a possible government shutdown.
"The press is all there! Chuck is really shouting out," Pelosi recounted to her colleagues of the meeting with Trump. "I was trying to be the mom. I can't explain it to you. It was so wild."
She added, "It goes to show you: You get into a tinkle contest with a skunk, you get tinkle all over you."
At the meeting, Trump was adamant about owning a government shut down if he did not get funding for a border wall.
"If we don't get what we want one way or the other ... I will shut down the government," Trump said during the heated and on-camera dispute with Pelosi and Schumer. "I am proud to shut down the government for border security...I will take the mantle of shutting it down."