WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump made a triumphant return to Capitol Hill on Thursday, meeting with House and Senate Republicans, his first since urging the crowd to “fight like hell” before the vote. Attack of January 6, 2021. Republican lawmakers find themselves refreshed and invigorated by his attempt to retake the White House.
Despite federal charges against Trump for plot to overturn the 2020 electionand its recent guilty verdict in a secret trial unrelated to money, the former Republican president arrived emboldened as the party’s presumptive nominee. He has successfully purged the Republican Party of its critics, silenced most skeptics and lured once-critical lawmakers on board his MAGA-fueled campaign.
A packed room of House Republicans sang “Happy Birthday” to Trump at the private breakfast at the GOP campaign headquarters across the street from the Capitol.
“We are delighted to welcome back President Trump,” said the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Mike Johnson the day before.
The Republican president questioned whether he had asked Trump to respect the peaceful transfer of presidential power and pledge not to do another on January 6. “Of course he respects that, we all do, and we’ve all talked about it, ad nauseum. .”
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Trump told the speaker behind closed doors Thursday that he thought Johnson was doing a “tremendous job,” according to a Republican at the private meeting and granted anonymity to discuss it.
Trump is expected to deliver a speech and discuss issues driving his campaign, including mass protests. immigration deportations but also tax cuts and other priorities for a possible second term.
Many potential priorities for a new White House administration are being formulated by a constellation of outside groups, including Project 2025that lay the groundwork for executive and legislative actions, even though Trump has made clear he has his own agenda.
But the private meetings with House and later in the afternoon with Senate Republicans, so close to the Capitol, are imbued with the symbolism of Trump’s return as an American president who has threatened the American tradition of peaceful transfer of power presidential.
“It’s frustrating,” said a former U.S. Capitol Police officer. Harry Dunnwho unsuccessfully ran for Congress as a Maryland Democrat the day after Jan. 6, when police fought hand-to-hand to stop Trump supporters who stormed the building in an attempt to overturn the election of President Joe Biden.
Dunn spoke of the “irony” of Trump returning to the region and that lawmakers are now embracing him. “It just shows the lack of courage they have when they really put the party and the individual before the country,” he said. “And it’s sad.”
Many of those who once lifted Trump have long left office, and remaining Republicans appear increasingly enthusiastic about the possibility of him taking back the White House and the down-ballot boon that could mean for their own Republican majorities in the House. Congress.
Johnson met with senators Wednesday before Trump arrived as Republicans hammered out potential priorities.
Outgoing Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who once blamed Trump for the “shameful” attack he called an “insurrection.” approve now the party’s presumptive candidate and said: “Of course I will be present at the meeting. »
Sen. John Thune, the GOP whip seeking to replace McConnell as leader, told The Associated Press he wanted to hear Trump talk about the fall election and “ways in which we, in As a team, and he individually, we can appeal to constituencies and people who don’t traditionally vote Republican.
Thune said: “I think there’s an opportunity there to make this a big win.”
As democracies around the world are threatened by a shift to the far right, experts warn that the American system, once seemingly immune to authoritarian impulses, risks facing populist and extremist forces like those Trump inspired to sack the Capitol.
“This is just another example of how House Republicans are bending the knee to Donald Trump,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, chairman of the House Democratic caucus.
Making January 6 the cornerstone of his re-election campaign, Trump celebrates those who stormed the Capitol as “warriors” and “patriots,” and he has pledged to pardon a number more than 1 300 Americans convicted of crimes for assault on headquarters. of American democracy.
Additionally, Trump has vowed to seek retaliation by ousting officials from the U.S. Justice Department, which is prosecuting him in a four-count indictment aimed at overturning the election before the attack on January 6 and another case for the storage of classified documents in its headquarters. -Largo at home.
Republicans, particularly in the House but increasingly in the Senate, are vigorously following his lead, complaining about an unfair justice system. The House voted to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress and is reviewing the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 incident.
Alongside Trump, GOP campaign groups in the House and Senate recorded some of their highest fundraising periods to date after a jury convicted him in the Trump secrecy case. money in New York.
When former GOP Chairman Paul Ryan on Fox News reiterated this week that he would not vote for Trump and wanted Republicans to have another choice for president, he was immediately ostracized by Trump’s allies .
“Paul Ryan, you are trash,” said Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas. “We should kick you out of the party.”
Of the Republicans who voted to impeach Trump on January 6 and convict him of inciting insurrection, only a few remain in office.
Sen. Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, are not expected to attend Thursday’s closed-door session with Trump.
But Sen. Bill Cassidy, Republican of Los Angeles, said he would likely join Trump’s meeting at the Republican senators’ campaign headquarters, hoping that “he’ll be the next president, so you’ll have to work” together.
Asked if he was concerned about the direction of Trump’s Republican Party, Cassidy: “Let the issues of the day be enough for the day.” You can fill yourself with anxiety about tomorrow, but will it make a difference? No.”
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who has at times clashed with Trump but did not join the vote to convict him in the Capitol attack, said he did not expect the meeting to be controversial as Republicans hope to capture the majority in the Senate this fall. .
“Look, we have to win. And our ability to win a majority in the Senate is intrinsically linked to Trump’s victory. So we are like one team, one vision. And I think that’s going to be a lot of what we talk about,” Tillis said.
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Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.
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News Source : apnews.com
