Trump asks congressional leaders to return for shutdown talks Friday -lawmaker

WASHINGTON, Jan 2 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump has asked congressional leaders to return to the White House on Friday for talks aimed at ending a partial government shutdown over a dispute on border security funding, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said on Wednesday.

Speaking after a meeting of congressional leaders with Trump at the White House, McCarthy said he believed the president wanted to find a solution to the crisis.

"We know that we have a challenge along the border. We want to solve that issue. We want to make sure we open this government up. And I think at the end of the day, the president, listening to him, he wants to solve this as well," McCarthy said.

Democrats said they would proceed with plans to hold votes on Thursday, when they formally take control of the U.S. House of Representatives from Trump's fellow Republicans, on legislation that would end the shutdown without providing money for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border that Trump sought. The White House has called the two-part package a "non-starter."

"We're asking the president to open up government," Democrat Nancy Pelosi, the presumptive House speaker, told reporters outside the White House after top lawmakers met with Trump and his homeland security officials.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Writing by David Alexander; Editing by Tim Ahmann and Grant McCool)