Rep. Ralph Norman said he won’t give up his plans to urge former President Donald Trump to select former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley as his running mate when the presumptive GOP nominee meets with congressional Republicans on Thursday in Washington.
Mr. Norman, South Carolina Republican, previously endorsed Ms. Haley when she ran against Mr. Trump, her former boss, in the GOP presidential primary this year.
“Who can bring the party together more than her? Who can beat twelve other candidates other than President Trump?” Mr. Norman told reporters Wednesday. “He should pick Nikki Haley. Now it’s his call, but I’m just a little minion … in a big ocean.”
Mr. Trump has already stated he will not announce his running mate selection until the GOP convention. The convention will take place July 15-18 in Milwaukee.
While he and Ms. Haley have made peace publicly with one another since their nasty political battle, Mr. Trump has only indicated that he believed she will join his team in some unspecified role.
But according to recent reports, the former South Carolina governor is not on the short-list of vice presidential candidates that the Trump campaign is reviewing.
Mr. Norman and other Republicans will get a chance to hear from Mr. Trump when he visits the nation’s capital to talk with GOP congressional lawmakers from both chambers.
Other Republican lawmakers who bucked Mr. Trump during the primary, including Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Chip Roy of Texas, hope Mr. Trump will lay out a clear vision of what he plans to do if he’s elected.
“I want to hear something that’s going to get to the heart of what our hardworking American families are dealing with, inflation and cost of living, all that, but more importantly, the border,” Mr. Roy said.
“I want to hear a very specific plan on what we’re going to do about the border. I know about remain in Mexico. I know we say what we did four years ago, but we’ve got to go further and quicker.”
Mr. Massie, who leans more libertarian among his fellow Republicans, said he wants to know if Mr. Trump will pardon Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
“That’s sort of one of the things that I’m holding out for,” Mr. Massie said.
Mr. Trump recently promised to commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the online illegal drug marketplace Silk Road.
Mr. Massie said that he was also disappointed with the former president’s recent congressional endorsements, whom he believes are establishment candidates.
“I would like for him to quit endorsing the wrong people in a lot of these congressional races,” he said. “I’m disappointed in his endorsements because I think he’s going to be disappointed when he gets here and tries to drain the swamp.”
He added, “The MAGA agenda is [to] cut spending and end endless wars — reform healthcare and rein in the ‘three-letter’ agencies. It seems like the former president is back to picking the wrong people.”
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.