WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump made a triumphant return to the Capitol on Thursday, meeting with House and Senate Republicans for the first time since he urged a mob to “fight like hell” before the Sept. 6 attack. January 2021. Republican legislators felt invigorated and with new impetus for their bid to retake the White House.
Despite federal charges against Trump of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election and his recent guilty plea in an unrelated hush money trial, the former Republican president arrived emboldened as his party’s presumptive nominee. He has eliminated Republican critics, silenced most skeptics and attracted once-critical lawmakers to his “MAGA” campaign. Joined”).
A room full of House Republicans sang “Happy Birthday” to Trump at the private breakfast, held at the GOP campaign offices across from the Capitol. Lawmakers gave him a ball and baseball bat from the annual congressional game.
“We are excited to welcome back President Trump,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said the day before.
The Republican official has objected to being asked if he has asked Trump to respect the peaceful transfer of presidential power and to commit to not having another January 6. “He certainly respects it, as do all of us, and we’ve talked about it ad nauseum.”
Trump told Johnson on Thursday that he thinks the House speaker is doing a “fantastic” job, according to a Republican who attended the private meeting and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss it. Trump asked Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the official’s top Republican critic, if she had been good to Johnson, another Republican said.
