Election 2024: Trump will return to Capitol Hill to meet Republican lawmakers

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump returns triumphantly to Capitol Hill to meet with Republicans in the House and Senate, his first meeting since sending out the mob to “fight hell” ahead of the vote. Attack of January 6, 2021while Republican lawmakers are gaining new energy and momentum from his bid to retake the White House.

Despite federal charges against Trump for Conspiracy to annul the 2020 electionsand his youngest Guilty verdict In an unrelated hush-money trial, the former Republican president emboldened himself to run as the party’s likely nominee on Thursday. He has successfully purged the GOP of critics, silenced most skeptics and won over once-critical lawmakers to his MAGA-backed campaign.

“We are pleased to welcome President Trump back,” said the Speaker of the House Michael Johnsonwho led one of the trials challenging the 2020 election and had his biggest fundraising day yet following Trump’s felony conviction.

The Republican spokesman expressed skepticism when asked whether he had asked Trump to respect the president’s peaceful transfer of power and to commit to not holding another transfer of power on January 6. “Of course he respects that, we all do, and we’ve all talked about it ad nauseam.”

Trump is scheduled to address both groups at the House and Senate campaign headquarters near the U.S. Capitol and discuss issues that are fueling his campaign, including mass Immigration deportations but also tax cuts and other priorities for a possible second term.

In the meantime, Trump is expected to speak at the downtown Business Roundtable, which regularly invites the likely presidential candidates to address the group of executives. 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 action, even though Trump has made it clear that he is pursuing his own agenda.

But the private meetings with Republicans from the House and Senate so close to the Capitol are filled with the symbolism of Trump’s return as the US president who threatened the American tradition of the peaceful transfer of presidential power.

“It’s frustrating,” said a former U.S. Capitol police officer Harry Dunnwho himself ran unsuccessfully for Congress as a Democrat from Maryland after Jan. 6, when police were involved in hand-to-hand combat to stop Trump supporters who stormed the building and tried to overturn the election of President Joe Biden.

Dunn spoke of the “irony” that Trump had returned to the region and lawmakers were now embracing him. “It just shows how little backbone they have if they really put party and person above country,” he said. “And that’s sad.”

Many of those who once stood up Trump’s candidates have long since left office, and remaining Republicans seem increasingly excited by the possibility of him retaking the White House and the unexpected gains it could mean for their own Republican majority in Congress.

Johnson met with senators on Wednesday before Trump’s arrival as Republicans set possible priorities.

Outgoing Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, who once blamed Trump for the “disgraceful” attack he called an “insurrection” now supports the party’s likely candidate and said: “Of course I will be at the meeting.”

Senator John Thune, the Republican whip vying to succeed McConnell as party leader, told the Associated Press he was interested in hearing from Trump about this fall’s election and “ways that we as a team and he personally can appeal to the electorate and people who may not traditionally vote Republican.”

Thune said: “I think there is a chance here to really make this a great success.”

As democracies around the world face a shift to the right, experts warn that the U.S. system, which once seemed immune to authoritarian impulses, is at risk from populist and extremist forces like those that inspired Trump to storm the Capitol.

“This is just another example of House Republicans kneeling before Donald Trump,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, the leader of the House Democratic Caucus.

Trump made January 6 a cornerstone of his campaign, celebrating those who stormed the Capitol as “warriors” and “patriots.” He also announced that he would pardon any of the more than 1,300 Americans convicted of the attack on the seat of US democracy.

In addition, Trump has announced he will retaliate by firing officials from the U.S. Department of Justice, which is pursuing four counts of indictment against him for attempting to overturn the election before the January 6 attacks and another for storing classified documents at his Mar-a-Largo home.

Republicans, especially in the House of Representatives but increasingly in the Senate, are vigorously following his example and complaining about an unfair justice system. The House of Representatives voted to impeach Attorney General Merrick Garland for contempt of Congress and is now re-investigating the House committee that investigated the January 6 case.

In addition to Trump, Republican campaign teams in the House and Senate received some of their highest fundraising revenues to date after a jury found him guilty in the New York hush money case.

When former Republican spokesman Paul Ryan reiterated on Fox News this week that he would not vote for Trump and wished Republicans had another choice for president, he was immediately ostracized by Trump’s allies.

“Paul Ryan, you are a piece of scum,” said Republican Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas. “We should kick you out of the party.”

Of the Republicans who voted to impeach Trump and convict him of incitement of insurrection on January 6, only a few are still in office.

Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine and Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska are not expected to attend the closed session with Trump on Thursday.

But Senator Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) said he would likely attend the meeting with Trump at the Republican senators’ campaign headquarters, expecting that “he’s going to be the next president, so we have to work together.”

When asked if he was concerned about the direction of the Republican Party under Trump, Cassidy replied, “Let the daily problems be enough for themselves. You can fill yourself with worries about tomorrow, but will that change anything? No.”

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who confronted Trump at times but did not participate in the vote to convict him in connection with the Capitol attack, said he did not expect any contentious conversations at the meeting as Republicans hope to gain a majority in the Senate in the fall.

“Look, we have to win. And our ability to win a majority in the Senate is inextricably linked to Trump’s victory. So we are one team, one vision. And I think that’s essentially what we’re going to talk about,” Tillis said.

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Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.