Trump slams Justice Department in meeting with congressional Republicans – The Washington Post

Donald Trump returned to Washington on Thursday to rally congressional Republicans behind his candidacy and remind lawmakers what they could achieve if voters return the White House and Senate to Republican hands and expand the slender House GOP majority.

In the morning, Trump met with House Republicans at the Capitol Hill Club, which is steps away from the U.S. Capitol. He is scheduled to meet with Senate Republicans shortly after noon.

According to sources in the room for the House GOP meeting who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss the gathering Trump delivered bullish remarks on the presidential race, Republicans messaging on abortion, lowering costs, his distaste for the Justice Department and his foreign agenda amid ongoing wars.

The former president who has repeatedly attacked the Justice Department and baselessly accused it of being weaponized against him called the DOJ dirty, no-good bastards during the gathering, according to two people in the room who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private discussions. House Republicans have previously pledged to aggressively go after the weaponization of government following Trumps conviction in Manhattan criminal court and voted to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress on Wednesday.

House Republicans across the ideological spectrum filed out of the hour-long gathering describing Trump as cheerfully boastful and confident in the meeting, injecting the enthusiasm members had hoped he would bring to unite a historically fractious conference.

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said Trump spoke about opening the Keystone Pipeline again and getting inflation down, cutting taxes.

He hit everything, he said after the meeting. Thats the most energized Ive ever seen him.

Ahead of the gathering, many Republicans said they hoped Trump would offer clarity on his policy agenda ahead of the November election. As they left the meeting, a majority of them said Trump delivered.

The guy articulates what the average American feels, said Rep. Marcus J. Molinaro, who represents a New York swing district.

Trumps first visit to Capitol Hill since leaving the White House comes two weeks after he became the first former president in U.S. history to be convicted of a crime for falsifying business records in his New York hush money case.

It is also his first 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 Joe Bidens 2020 victory. Though Trump was not at the Capitol that day and weeks later skipped Bidens inauguration his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results are at the heart of some of the federal charges against him.

Congressional Republicans expected warm reception for the former president is the latest example of them tying their fate to Trump once again, even though some lawmakers are privately unenthusiastic about the prospect of Trumps return to Washington. Not all House Republicans attended the gathering.

House Republicans welcomed Trump to the meeting with a rendition of the Boehner birthday song a short and snappy jingle that former speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) instituted during his time in office. The lawmakers also gave Trump a bat from the annual Congressional Baseball Game, which was held Wednesday night. Trump turns 78 on Friday.

Trump praised House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) for his leadership, briefly name checking Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) for trying to strip the gavel from him last month, an effort that ultimately resulted in a bipartisan vote to keep him as speaker.

Marjorie, be nice to him, Norman recounted Trump saying.

Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.) said Trump who has long falsely claimed that the 2020 election was stolen from him did not talk about potential election fraud but spoke about his poll numbers and insisted that Republicans must work hard to ensure they win in November.

According to the people in the room, Trump said Republicans need to do a better job messaging on abortion than they did in 2022 the year the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, an event that spurred a string of electoral wins and state referendums favoring Democrats. President Biden and his campaign have long warned that, if Trump is elected, abortion rights will be further stifled.

Molinaro said Trump specifically mentioned Republicans need to be very careful about showing respect for women and the choices that they have to make.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (Fla.)told reporters that the former president held a very serious discussion about how Republicans are going to talk about abortion in the upcoming election.

President Trump reiterated his perspective that this is a state issue. He thought that gave members who have different views on this issue in our conference, an ability to really localize it rather than having to talk about it in the broadest of national terms, he said.

On the presidential race, according to those in the room, Trump said his candidacy expands the map of battleground states to include New Mexico, New Jersey, Virginia and Minnesota all states considered favorable to Democrats in past election cycles.

Trump also said tariffs on imports from foreign nations would be a central part of his agenda if given a second term, noting his plans to use them as a national security tool. He also complained about the high cost of oil and claimed he was tougher on Russia and Nordstream 2 sanctions than President Biden. He also vowed to issue stricter tariffs on China and Venezuelan oil.

A handful of moderate Republicans representing swing districts skipped the gathering to attend committee hearings instead.

Trump at one point gleefully pointed out that a majority of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach him after the Jan. 6 insurrection retired or lost their reelection bids. Reps. David G. Valadao (Calif.) and Dan Newhouse (Wash.) are the only two House Republicans who voted to impeach who are still in office.

During the meeting, Trump made clear he recalled that he never loved a congressman from California for their impeachment vote, which Republicans understood to be a swipe against Valadao. Valadao did not attend the meeting, but Newhouse was present.

Of the 16 House Republicans who represent districts Biden won in 2020, five Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Young Kim (Calif.), David Schweikert (Ariz.), Michelle Steel (Calif.) and Valadao do not appear to have publicly endorsed Trump.

Schweikert attended the meeting, but repeatedly skipped the opportunity to endorse Trump, saying he has kept to the tradition of endorsing the GOP nominee for after the convention is held in July. He said he was actually pleased that Trump mainly spoke about issues like the economy and inflation and did not spend much time discussing his criminal investigations.

At one point in the meeting, Trump also complained that pop star Taylor Swift endorsed President Biden in the 2024 election, a falsehood that gained traction in far-right circles earlier this year. Swift has not endorsed either candidate.

The Biden campaign has latched onto Trumps first return to the Capitol since the insurrection, releasing a campaign ad running Thursday across battleground states reminding voters of the violence that day.

Today, the instigator of an insurrection is returning to the scene of the crime. January 6th was a crime against the Capitol, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the former House speaker, said in a statement on behalf of the Biden campaign. With his pledges to be a dictator on day one and seek revenge against his political opponents, Donald Trump comes to Capitol Hill today with the same mission of dismantling our democracy.

After rallying House Republicans, Trump will meet Senate Republicans on their turf. 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.

A majority of Senate Republicans are expected to meet with Trump at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.). McConnells attendance 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. But he did not vote to convict Trump after the impeachment trial.

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

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

Its the first time weve all been together with him since he was president, certainly the first time a large group of us have been with him since the conviction, and I would expect hed receive a lot of unifying messages, he said. I would expect it will be a very encouraging day for him.

correction

An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Trump was the first U.S. president convicted of a federal crime. He was convicted of state crimes. This story has been updated.

Theodoric Meyer contributed to this report.

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Trump slams Justice Department in meeting with congressional Republicans - The Washington Post