President-elect Trump, who is now one week away from Inauguration day, met with Senator John Fetterman and his wife over the weekend at Mar-a-lago and relayed some of his meeting to the Washington Examiner.
In short, he seemed impressed with Fetterman, calling him neither a liberal or a conservative but a commonsense person.
Here’s more:
“It was a totally fascinating meeting. He’s a fascinating man, and his wife is lovely. They were both up, and I couldn’t be more impressed,” Trump said of Fetterman and his wife Gisele after the hourlong meeting at Mar-a-Lago.
“He’s a commonsense person. He’s not liberal or conservative. He’s just a commonsense person, which is beautiful,” Trump said in an exclusive interview with the Washington Examiner.
Without going into too much detail about their private conversation, Trump said that the topics addressed included the fate of U.S. Steel, support for Israel, shoring up the border, and the geopolitical benefits of acquiring Greenland.
Regarding U.S. Steel, Trump said they discussed how to make the company successful again through tariffs. “They’re going to make people that have steel mills do very well, and the people that work at those steel mills are going to do very well,” Trump said.
President Joe Biden blocked the more than $14 billion deal for U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel at the beginning of January, citing national security concerns after a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
In response several days later, U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel filed a lawsuit asking a federal court to reverse Biden’s decision, alleging Biden acted unconstitutionally.
Fetterman and Trump oppose the sale as it stands, citing their support of steelworkers union leadership who have expressed concerns that Nippon Steel’s latest proposal gives the U.S. government veto power over any possible reductions in U.S. Steel’s production capacity if they merged.
Trump said they talked at length about expansionist plans from Greenland to the Panama Canal, with both of them agreeing it was an important discussion to have from a national security and economic standpoint.
“We had a great meeting. He was very impressive. His wife was with him, and she was really fantastic, too,” he said.
Overall, Trump said that in the time between his November win and next week’s inauguration, it has been refreshing to see the cooperation between the Republican Party and Democrats like Fetterman who are taking the lead in co-sponsoring items such as the Laken Riley Act.
On Thursday, the Laken Riley Act defeated the legislative filibuster during a procedural vote, earning more than 60 votes to advance it to a final vote.
“It’s been amazing, and there’s been cooperation within the Republicans and a lot of the Democrats. I will say that Sen. Fetterman was very impressive to me, really impressive,” he said.
Trump said his impression of Fetterman early on was that he was very liberal, but that impression started to change as he has watched the Pennsylvania senator navigate his support for Israel since Oct. 7, 2023, and, of course, after sitting down to meet him face to face and have a conversation.
“He really was impressive, and I’m glad I got to speak to him. And he loves Pennsylvania, and he loves our country,” characteristics Trump said he found moving.