Former President Donald Trump will visit Capitol Hill on Thursday for the first time since the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, meeting with Senate and House Republicans to discuss his agenda for a second term—and court some GOP lawmakers who have been hesitant to offer full-throated endorsements of his latest presidential bid.
Former President Donald Trump gestures as he arrives at the Captiol Hill Club on June 13, 2024 in ... [+]
Trump will attend a breakfast with House Republicans at the Capitol Hill Club, followed by a meeting with Senate Republicans in the afternoon at the National Republican Senatorial Committee headquarters.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., has told colleagues he extended the invitation to Trump to hear his “plans for the summer and policy agenda for 2025,” his spokesperson told NPR, which reported Trump’s campaign said he will discuss his policies surrounding Social Security, Medicare, immigration, taxes and foreign policy.
The meeting will be Trump’s first with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., following a bitter feud between the two over McConnell’s criticism of Trump’s role in the Capitol riots, though McConnell has since endorsed Trump’s re-election bid and defended Trump against his felony convictions in Manhattan last month.
Other Trump-adverse Republicans are expected to sit out the meeting, including Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Mitt Romney, R-Utah, among the seven Republicans who voted to convict Trump in an impeachment trial for his role in Jan. 6, NBC reported.
"There's high anticipation here and great excitement," House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters Wednesday ahead of the meetings with Trump.
Whether Trump will address his desire to seek revenge on his political enemies following his conviction in Manhattan last month on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Trump has unabashedly expressed his intentions, even going as far to suggest he would prosecute his adversaries, such as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Johnson has “sympathized with Trump’s frustration,” Politico Playbook reported Thursday, citing sources who said the speaker is weighing congressional actions that could advance Trump’s revenge mission. Some House Republicans have floated proposals like cutting Justice Department funding used in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s two cases against Trump and allowing presidents charged at the state level to transfer their cases to federal court, giving Trump the option to pardon himself.
Trump will speak at the Business Roundtable’s annual meeting in between his sit-down with House and Senate Republicans. J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon and Apple CEO Tim Cook are among the lobbying group’s members expected to attend. White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients is also slated to address the group.
Since leaving office, Trump has maintained his influence over Republicans in Congress. In one of their most recent displays of loyalty to Trump, House Republicans voted Wednesday to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to release audio tapes of a special counsel interview with Biden, as Trump and his allies have warred with the Justice Department for its prosecutions against Trump. At Trump’s urging, the GOP has pushed an impeachment probe against Biden that even some Republicans say was a longshot effort—and one that appears to be losing steam. Republicans also blocked bipartisan legislation that would have implemented new border controls, killing the bill at Trump’s behest after he openly predicted it would be a “gift” to Democrats in an election year when immigration is a top issue for voters. A parade of Republicans, including Johnson, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and top Trump running mate contender, Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, also attended his Manhattan hush money trial in a show of support.
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