Trump, seeking to show unity, to meet with GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill (2024)

These will be Trump’s first meetings with GOP lawmakers since a jury found him guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in his New York hush money case, making him the first former U.S. president convicted of a crime. Since the guilty verdict last month, Republicans have largely fallen in line behind Trump, as he and President Biden continue to be locked in a tight race.

It will also be Trump’s first public visit to Capitol Hill since the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, in which a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol complex to stop the certification of Biden’s 2020 victory. Though Trump was not at the Capitol that day, his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, including his actions leading up to and during the attack, are at the heart of federal charges against him.

Trump’s actions and words influenced several Republican lawmakers to publicly break from the former president and endorse other candidates in this year’s GOP presidential primary. Although many Republicans had previously bemoaned Trump’s sometimes erratic behavior and norm bashing, the electoral fates of those who broke with him — like former representatives Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) — has not gone unnoticed by them.

Only two of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot remain in Congress — Reps. Dan Newhouse (Wash.) and David G. Valadao (Calif.). Neither has endorsed Trump this cycle, and only Newhouse has said he will attend Thursday’s meeting.

Of the four GOP senators still in office who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial after Jan. 6, only Sen. Bill Cassidy (La.) said he is likely to attend the meeting with Trump on Thursday. Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah) said he’s not attending. Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) said they had scheduling conflicts.

Some Republicans have also broken with Trump on policy. While the GOP embraces the broad ambition of passing tough immigration policy, curbing government spending and cutting taxes, the ideological divisions plaguing House Republicans in particular have made it difficult for them to pass substantive legislation.

Trump displayed his power over Senate Republicans from afar when, earlier this year, he helped kill bipartisan border security legislation that would have cracked down on asylum claims at the U.S.-Mexico border. Senate Republicans rejected the bill a second time last month.

Republicans also remain increasingly divided over whether to address abortion and other reproductive health issues on the federal level, though many agree with Trump that those matters should be left up to the states.

Trump’s visit comes as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is brainstorming what a House Republican majority’s first-100-days agenda would feature if voters keep the GOP at the helm. Trump is scheduled to meet with House Republicans at 9:30 a.m. Thursday at the Capitol Hill Club followed by a meeting with Senate Republicans at 12:30 p.m. at the headquarters of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

“We’re very excited to welcome President Trump back. … There’s high anticipation here and great excitement, and I feel good,” Johnson said, later adding that GOP lawmakers were eager to talk about post-election plans and “bounce around ideas” with Trump.

Asked whether he had spoken to Trump about committing to a peaceful transfer of power, Johnson said “of course he respects that, and we all do.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who will step down as the Senate’s top GOP leader at the end of the year, has suggested Senate Republicans first need to win the majority before establishing a legislative agenda.

McConnell plans to attend the meeting, which will mark the first time he and Trump have spoken since shortly after the 2020 election. McConnell broke with Trump over his refusal to accept the 2020 election results then and over the Jan. 6 riot, for which McConnell called Trump “practically and morally responsible.” Trump also later attacked McConnell’s wife — former Trump Cabinet secretary Elaine Chao — in racist terms. But McConnell has already endorsed Trump for reelection, saying that “it should come as no surprise that as nominee, he will have my support.”

“I said three years ago, right after the Capitol was attacked, that I would support our nominee, regardless of who it was, including him,” McConnell said Wednesday. “I’ve said earlier this year I support him. He’s … earned the nomination by the voters all across the country.”

Trump has had conflicts with Senate Republicans in the past, although the majority of the conference is staunchly behind him. Trump is also considering some members of the conference to be his running mate, including Sens. J.D. Vance (Ohio) and Tim Scott (S.C.).

In a meeting invitation obtained by The Washington Post, Senate Republicans were told to expect “to hear directly from President Trump about his plans for the summer and to also share our ideas for a strategic governing agenda for 2025.”

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said he doubted the meeting would get too in the weeds on policy, focusing more on politics and messaging and rallying together ahead of the election.

“It’s the first time we’ve all been together with him since he was president, certainly the first time a large group of us have been with him since the convictions, and I would expect he’d receive a lot of unifying messages,” Cramer said. “I would expect it will be a very encouraging day for him.”

Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) disparaged Republicans ahead of the meetings, saying the party’s only policy idea was to recycle “the same Trump tax cuts that proved to be a dud seven years ago.”

House Republican leaders briefed conference members during their weekly meeting Wednesday about Trump’s visit the next day, urging lawmakers to arrive early to the Capitol Hill Club. There were few specifics given about what might be discussed with Trump, but people familiar with the leadership’s thinking said a meeting with Trump has been in the works for months.

Several Republican lawmakers said Wednesday that they expected Trump to update them on what he saw as top concerns for the American people and to lay out a role for how lawmakers could support his reelection efforts over the next five months.

Some moderate House Republicans are still contemplating not attending their meeting with Trump, possibly stunting his attempt to unite the conference. One moderate House Republican, who represents a swing district and who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss the meeting, said they were bracing for chaos. But Rep. Nick LaLota, a moderate from New York state, dismissed the notion that Thursday’s meeting could turn tense.

“I think it’ll be a morale-building, team-building-focused meeting where I expect spirits to be high,” he said.

Trump is aware of GOP disunity, according to Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), who said he speaks to Trump frequently. But Donalds, who is reported to be under consideration to be Trump’s running mate, encouraged his colleagues to appear — even those who may be hesitant because of their reelection prospects or previously endorsed another candidate in the presidential primary.

“I think that if you’re just going to go around just being a distraction for distraction’s sake, he has little patience for that — but quite frankly, I got little patience for that,” Donalds said of colleagues who often break with Trump. “So I think members should show up. They should go. It’ll be a packed house.”

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), who endorsed former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley during the primary, said he will continue pushing her to be Trump’s running mate. But he encouraged his colleagues to leave the past behind by not letting “personalities get in the way” and instead remain focused on “turning the country around, saving it.”

Asked whether he was excited for Trump’s visit, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.) — who campaigned for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in the primary — said he “certainly plans on attending” Thursday’s meeting. Roy said he thinks Republicans must have a conversation “about what we want to accomplish in the spring of ’25, to talk about the agenda and the policies that we ought to address.”

Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), a former DeSantis supporter whose opponent Trump backed this cycle, said he would attend “to listen to what our presumptive nominee and the effective leader of our party has to say.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a top Trump ally in the House, downplayed the possibility of tension resulting Thursday from the presence of those who supported other primary candidates, like Good. “I don’t think President Trump even cares.”

Marianne LeVine contributed to this report.