Trump in Washington to woo Republican lawmakers

Donald Trump has returned to Washington on Thursday to rally support from Republican lawmakers and the business community following his historic criminal conviction in his New York hush money trial.

The former president, who is running to unseat Joe Biden in November, will have separate closed-door sessions with House members at a private club near the US Capitol and with senators at their campaign headquarters nearby, and address dozens of CEOs.

“The speaker and the House GOP Leadership look forward to hosting President Trump on Thursday morning to discuss growing the House Republican majority and the 2025 legislative agenda,” a spokesman for House Speaker Mike Johnson told AFP.

It will be Trump’s first meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill since leaving the White House in 2021 and his first trip to Washington since he was convicted in New York in May on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

The party has circled the wagons around its standard-bearer since the guilty verdicts, with numerous lawmakers denigrating a justice system they baselessly claim is biased against conservatives.

House Republicans face an uphill battle to reclaim the lower chamber from the Democrats in November’s elections, which are expected to be tight from the presidential race down through many of the key House and Senate contests.

Senate Republicans have a much more favorable map, and are confident of flipping their 49-51 minority in the upper chamber.

At least five centrist senators have yet to commit to attending on Thursday, although Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has not spoken to Trump since berating him from the Senate floor over the 2021 insurrection, has said he will be there.