Trump returns to Capitol Hill for the first time since the January 6 attack. GOP calls visit “unifying”

Former President Donald Trump will rally House and Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill on Thursday, his first appearance on Capitol Hill since his supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021and his first visit to Washington since He was sentenced from 34 charges by a New York jury.

The appearance of the former president was, in the words of the hardliner and ally of the Republicans, a Matt Gaetza “pep rally”. Member of Parliament. Elise StefanikChairman of the Republican Conference in the House of Representatives, described the meeting as a “very successful” political gathering.

“We are 100 percent behind his candidacy and ready to get to work on behalf of the American people,” Stefanik told reporters, calling Trump’s appearance a “unifying event.”

Republican leaders said Trump addressed immigration and the economy, as well as the various legal situations he faces. The president, who spoke to House Republicans in the morning, has a series of meetings scheduled on Capitol Hill. Trump has not visited Capitol Hill since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, when his supporters attacked the building and interrupted the joint session of Congress certifying President Biden’s election victory.

The former president was sentenced last month on 34 counts of falsifying business records to bribe porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump has denied the allegations and said after the verdict that “nothing happened.” His campaign team said that his Fundraising has skyrocketed since the conviction.

Republican House Majority Leader Tom Emmer stressed that Trump’s trial and conviction in Manhattan, which Emmer called a “farce,” had “only given him more energy.”

“Donald Trump will win, Donald Trump will help us win,” Emmer said.

Trump continues to insist that the 2020 presidential election was rigged and, like several of his Republican allies, has expressed doubts about the integrity of the upcoming November election.

Ahead of Trump’s meeting with congressional Republicans, Republicans on the House Committee on Administration issued subpoenas for documents from President Biden’s Cabinet about the agency’s efforts to help with voter registration, voter information, and combat election misinformation and conspiracy theories. The subpoenas were sent to 15 Cabinet officials.

While in the region, Mr Trump also met with Virginia’s Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, to discuss recent polling data from the state that suggests the state could be contested in November, sources familiar with the conversation said. The Trump campaign has recent internal polling that shows Mr Trump within striking distance of Mr Biden in Virginia, a state the president won by 10 percentage points in 2020.

If the Trump team makes a stronger effort to turn around the state, which has not supported a Republican president since 2004, it could prompt the Biden team to put more resources into a state considered safe for the president.

The Biden campaign has six field offices and has held numerous grassroots events in the state, including a pickleball tournament on Wednesday to woo older voters.”

“Virginians have rejected Trump every time he has run for office, and his MAGA allies were soundly defeated last year after promoting his platform to ban abortions statewide,” said Jake Rubenstein, the Biden-Harris 2024 campaign manager for the state of Virginia. “We are mobilizing voters in every corner of Virginia and look forward to beating Trump a third time in November.”

Aaron Navarro contributed to this report.