Donald Trump held his first meeting with congressional Republicans on Thursday as skeptical rank-and-file lawmakers looked for assurances the bombastic mogul could execute their shared goal of beating Hillary Clinton this fall.
Trump offered a quick wave from behind the window of his SUV as he arrived just before 9 a.m. to meet with House Republicans, pulling into an alleyway behind the Republican National Committee headquarters. He didn’t speak to reporters before entering the building.
Several dozen protesters were gathered to greet him, chanting “Donald Trump, he’s a fraud, sending our jobs far abroad” and waving signs.
The gatherings came less than two weeks before the GOP’s national convention, which a number of leading Republicans are skipping, including some in Congress.
While Trump was sure to be greeted enthusiastically by a handful of lawmakers, many others have expressed skepticism, criticism or outright opposition to a presidential candidate who has flouted conservative principles and divided the Republican Party.
Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., a Trump critic, told reporters that he will be a “vociferous supporter” of Trump because Frank is convinced that Democrat Hillary Clinton will “obliterate the Supreme Court, undermine this Constitution, and decimate this republic for a generation.”
One Republican who strongly backs Trump, Rep. Lou Barletta of Pennsylvania, said he was looking forward to his colleagues seeing a different side of Trump — “a serious, business-like, boardroom Donald Trump — not so much what they have been seeing on TV.”
Trump’s appearance came on the heels of a fiery speech in which he defended his use of a Star of David symbol in a retweet, an image that House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and others have criticized.
Instead of focusing on Clinton during his remarks Wednesday in Cincinnati, as Republican leaders would have liked, Trump mixed his attacks on the presumptive Democratic nominee with a defense of the tweet as well as earlier remarks complimenting former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein as a killer of terrorists. Trump argues the star in his tweet was a regular star that a sheriff might use.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who was quick to endorse Trump but has criticized him for going off-script and lagging in fundraising, said he looks forward to “a frank exchange.”
“All of us are anxious to win the presidential election,” said McConnell, who recently has said Trump’s campaign is improving. “I think the one thing we agree on unanimously is four more years just like the last eight is not a good place for the American people.”
A number of lawmakers planned to skip Thursday’s meetings.
Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, in a tough re-election race, told reporters she had to attend a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing at the same time as Trump’s appearance.
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida said he needed to check his calendar. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said he was scheduled to preside over the Senate, but that others would benefit more anyway from seeing Trump.
“Obviously I’m very familiar with Donald and his positions, I just came off an 11-month campaign where he was one of my opponents,” said Rubio, a former Trump rival who was often mocked by Trump as “Little Marco.”
“So some of the other folks perhaps wanted to spend more time learning more about his positions.”
The meetings come as two potential vice presidential picks — Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Joni Ernst of Iowa — indicated that they weren’t interested in running on the same ticket as Trump.
The meetings were taking place at the political headquarters of the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, within blocks of the Capitol. Trump planned to meet first with House members.
Ensuring an overheated atmosphere on Capitol Hill, FBI Director James Comey was to testify before a House committee at the same time as the Senate meeting with Trump. Comey was summoned by House Republicans who are irate over his recommendation against criminal charges for Clinton’s classified email handling.
Democrats are moving to find political advantage from Trump’s appearance. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which tries to elect Democrats to the House, released a new nationwide ad campaign Thursday seeking to link Republicans to Trump. The ads, focused in the districts of 10 vulnerable lawmakers, will be running on cable networks; one of them, “Sidekick,” likens Trump to a schoolyard bully and congressional Republicans to the bully’s sidekicks and asks: “Shouldn’t they really be standing up to the bully?”
(AP)
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6 Responses
what kind of garbage is YWN spewing forth??????!!!!
i knew you’d never have the guts to print my comment.it couldn’t possibly pass thru your “moderation” test!but why does all the liberal leftist media dung pass as news on the
‘YESHIVA NEWS’ network??!!
On economic issues, Johnson (Libertarian) is closest to the traditional Republican positions. In foreign affairs, it appears that Clinton is closer to the neo-con positions of recent Republicans (muscular foreign policy, “freedom agenda”, opposition to tyrants). For social conservatives this is a bad election, as all candidates tend to support (or at least tolerate) sexual immorality and abortion.
The article is by a left-wing news source (AP, owned by the leading establishment left-oriented newspaper). I assume a more reliable new source (e.g Wall Street Journal) would be more expensive to run articles from.
The main goal of the upcoming election is to defeat Hillary Clinton. She has repeatedly stated that she would follow in the path of Obama, which is diseatrous to Jews and Israel. A lot of people are losing sight of the goal and are bad mouthing Trump. He will be a good president because he is not following the Washington path.
To No. 1 and 2 (aka roger green)
You don’t get it…every intelligent Republican in the congressional leadership is running away from Trump. They understand that there is a big difference between being “politically incorrect” as Trump claims he is and being vain, vulgar, racist and misogynistic as he is perceived by a rational observer. If you think the Associated Press is a “left wing” news source, than you probably believe Trump’s story that his Mogen David was innocently lifted from a Microsoft app rather than a right-wing, white supremacist website from which it was retweeted. After the past few weeks of Trump, just about every Republican national security expert has endorsed Hillary.
To No.5(AKA Gadolhadorah)I don’t get it?????You intelligent Republican,you!Trump is quite vain,probably slightly more vulgar than your average politician,but only someone stupid, and or naive can believe lefty garbage that he’s racist or misogynistic!Why on G-d’s green earth would he intentionally tick off Jews at this stage in the game???You have great sense of humor with your final statement=”just about every Republican national security expert has endorsed Hillary”!!!!! surely you jest!!!are you living on this planet????do you know what’s happenning as we speak???? I have MUCH more to say on this subject but unfortunately no time.see y’all later.GO TRUMP!!!(Hashem’s shliach to help save the world)and save us from mushchas hillary.Don’t believe evil left wing media!!!