"The fact is, we did get him to say, to fully own, that the shutdown was his," she said, according to the aide. "That was an accomplishment."
Said Trump at the meeting, "I am proud to shut down the government for border security . . . I will be the one to shut it down, I'm not going to blame you for it."
Pelosi's encounter with Trump came as she continues to try and win votes among fellow Democrats to be elected speaker next month.
In a tweet today and at the Oval Office meeting, Trump made reference to that contest, suggesting it was a reason Pelosi would not negotiate on wall funding.
But Pelosi's performance in the meeting stands to improve her chances of winning support among fellow Democrats, and her remarks to colleagues sought to highlight how she believed she and Schumer had won the upper political hand.
She used a similar line in October during an event at Harvard University's Institute of Politics, where she said the wall "happens to be like a manhood issue for the President, and I'm not interested in that".
Pelosi also described to colleagues how the Oval Office meeting concluded, according to the aide: "He said, 'We can go two routes with this meeting - with a knife or a candy.' I said, 'Exactly'. "
