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 electoral win. 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.
Asked Wednesday if he had spoken to Trump about committing to a peaceful transfer of power, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said “of course [Trump] respects that, and we all do.”
“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 anxious to talk about plans after November and “bounce around ideas with [Trump] tomorrow.”
Trump is scheduled to meet first with House Republicans at 9:30 a.m. Thursday at the Capitol Hill Club — steps from the Capitol — followed by another meeting with Senate Republicans also very near the Capitol at 12:30 p.m.
A Trump campaign official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the meeting said it would be “forward focused on how Republicans can work together to advance policies to save America.”
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 before the gathering. There were few specifics given about what might be discussed with Trump, who is the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.
“I don’t know what the purpose [of Trump’s visit] is. I found out about it with everybody else,” Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) said Wednesday morning. “So, just happy to entertain the former president and hopefully the next president of the United States. We’ll see what he has on his mind.”
Several Republican lawmakers said Wednesday 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.
“We don’t have time to let personalities get in the way,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) said Wednesday, later adding: “With me, it’s about turning the country around, saving it.”
Norman, who endorsed former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley during the primary, said he also would continue pushing her to be Trump’s running mate.
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.
Some moderate Republicans are still contemplating not attending, possibly stunting Trump’s attempt to unite the conference. 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 even those lawmakers critical of Trump to attend the meeting.
“I think that if you’re just gonna 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 Wednesday. “So I think members should show up. They should go. It’ll be a packed house.”
Senate Republicans were told to expect in their meeting “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,” according to an invitation obtained by The Washington Post.
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 of Ohio and Tim Scott of South Carolina.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) plans to attend the meeting, which will mark the first time he and Trump have spoken to each other 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 attack, 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, who is retiring as leader after the 2024 election, has already endorsed Trump for reelection, saying “it should come as no surprise that as nominee, he will have my support.”
At least one Senate Republican who has disagreed with Trump won’t attend: Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who voted to convict him after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. She told reporters this week she had a conflict and could not make the Thursday meeting.
On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) disparaged the GOP agenda ahead of the meeting, saying Republicans’ only policy idea was to recycle “the same Trump tax cuts that proved to be a dud seven years ago.”
Trump displayed his power over Senate Republicans from afar when he helped kill bipartisan border security legislation earlier this year that would have cracked down on asylum claims at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Though Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) led the GOP’s negotiations on the bipartisan legislation, after Trump made his opposition clear, Senate Republicans defected from the bill en masse. Senate Republicans rejected the bill a second time last month.
Marianne LeVine contributed to this report.
