Donald Trump returned to Washington this Thursday for the first time since the assault on the Capitol in January 2021. And he did so with a broad smile, an air of triumph, and the unanimous support of Republican legislators.
Despite federal charges against the former president for illegally trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat and instigating the assault, and his recent conviction for falsifying documents to conceal a bribe to a porn actress, Trump arrived to applause to meet with Republicans of the House of Representatives and the Senate, as his party’s virtual candidate for the elections to be held in November.
His visit, however, was harshly criticized by Democrats who reproached him for returning to the place where the crimes of which he is now accused were committed three years ago.
A room full of House Republicans sang “Happy Birthday” to Trump (he turns 78 this Friday) during a private breakfast at the GOP campaign offices across from the Capitol.
The legislators also gave him a cake with the US flag, a ball and a baseball bat.
One of the highlights was when Trump and his most prominent Republican critic, Senate party leader Mitch McConnell, shook hands and fist bumped.
“There is tremendous unity in the Republican Party,” the former president said in brief statements.
Although he currently supports his party’s virtual candidate, McConnell went so far as to blame Trump for the “shameful” attack on the Capitol, which he called an “insurrection.”
This Thursday, however, he said that the former president received standing ovations from the senators and that they both had “a really positive meeting.”
What did Trump’s visit to Capitol Hill consist of?
Trump spent about an hour with House Republicans and a similar time with those in the Senate. There were informal comments and talk about topics such as Russia and immigration, tax cuts and other priorities of what would be a possible second term in the White House.
A Republican who attended the private meeting told the AP that Trump said House Speaker Mike Johnson is doing a “fantastic” job.
“President Trump gave extraordinary energy, emotion and enthusiasm this morning,” said Johnson, who highlighted the large amount of funds raised since Trump’s guilty verdict in the ‘Stormy Daniels case.’
When Johnson was asked if he has asked Trump to respect the peaceful transfer of presidential power and to commit to not instigating another assault on the Capitol, he responded: “He certainly respects it, as do all of us, and we’ve talked about it ad nauseum.”
As for possible priorities for a new Trump administration in the White House, the Republican has made it clear that he has his own agenda.
On one of the most controversial issues, Trump told lawmakers that abortion laws should stay in the hands of the states. In addition, he assured that he supports exceptions in cases of rape, incest and to save the life of the mother in case of danger, as revealed by some legislators present at the meeting.
“Anyone who thinks this president would be crestfallen after that sham trial, that only gave him more energy,” said Tom Emmer, a Republican member of the House of Representatives.
“Donald Trump is sweeping this election,” he remarked.
Trump’s controversial Milwaukee reference
During one of the closed-door meetings, according to several people who spoke afterward, Trump used the word “horrible” when talking about Milwaukee, the city where he will accept the Republican nomination next month.
The comment, first reported by Punchbowl Newsimmediately generated disagreements among those present about what Trump meant.
Several Congressmen who support Trump and attended the meeting argued that it was about crime and electoral fraud. Trump frequently denounces Democratic-led cities as unsafe (even as violent crime has declined nationally in the most recent FBI statistics) and repeats falsehoods about his 2020 election loss.
President Joe Biden’s campaign and his Democratic allies pounced on the comment even as Republicans in Wisconsin, a key state in the November election, questioned how it was being interpreted. Biden posted a photo on social platform X of himself greeting the Milwaukee Bucks after their 2021 NBA championship with the message: “I happen to love Milwaukee.”
Milwaukee will host the Republican National Convention starting July 15 and is the largest Democratic stronghold in Wisconsin, a swing state. Before that, Trump is scheduled to hold a campaign event in Racine on Tuesday, just three weeks before the convention.
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung posted on X that the former president “was talking about how terrible crime and election fraud are.” Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden, who represents western Wisconsin, said he was talking about the “terrible or horrible” crime rate in the city.
“He was referring directly to crime in Milwaukee,” insisted Van Orden, who told the AP he was sitting just a few feet from the former president.
What did Democrats say about Trump’s return to Capitol Hill?
Despite these being private meetings between Republicans, the fact that they were so close to the Capitol did not go unnoticed due to the symbolism of Trump returning to the place where he supposedly threatened the peaceful transfer of power when he was president for which he is now being prosecuted.
“It’s frustrating”, said former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress as a Democrat from Maryland. Dunn spoke of the “irony” of Trump returning to this place and lawmakers receiving him with applause.
“It just shows the lack of guts they have when they really put party and person before country,” he said. “And it’s sad.”
Nancy Pelosi, former Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, strongly criticized Trump’s visit and accused him of returning with “the same mission of dismantling democracy.”
He said this visit amounted to a symbolic return to the scene of a crime that he deliberately initiated.
“Today, the instigator of an insurrection returns to the scene of the crime,” Pelosi said in a statement. “January 6 was a crime against the Capitol, who saw Nazi and Confederate flags flying under the dome Lincoln built.”
“It was a crime against the Constitution and the peaceful transfer of power, in a desperate attempt to hold on to his position,” he concluded.
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