Former President Donald J. Trump is expected to meet with a group of Republican senators and House members this week in Washington, where he will also sit down with business leaders, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The meetings between Mr. Trump and lawmakers will take place on Thursday, a few weeks before Mr. Trump is to be formally nominated for the third time as the Republican presidential nominee. The meeting was first reported by NBC News, and confirmed by two people briefed on the matter, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the Trump campaign’s plans.
A Trump campaign official who confirmed the meetings said they would be forward looking, on plans like border security and economic policy.
Mr. Trump’s allies on Capitol Hill have been discussing plans for a governing agenda in 2025 for several weeks. The former president has released policy proposals on issues such as immigration, trade and more over the many months of his third presidential campaign.
But those proposals have been largely drowned out by his legal troubles. Mr. Trump faced three civil trials in the last 18 months, and was criminally indicted four times in roughly the same period. He was convicted last month on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, which prosecutors said was done to conceal a hush-money payment to a porn star during the 2016 campaign. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11, just days before the start of the Republican National Convention.
The meeting could give lawmakers a chance to hear more about Mr. Trump’s plans for a second administration directly from him.
On the campaign trail, Mr. Trump has talked broadly about a sweeping plan to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, as well as lowering energy costs and imposing new tariffs on imports.
But Mr. Trump has also been eager to see retributive investigations into those who have prosecuted him, and some House members have taken up that call in recent days, calling the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, to testify before Congress.
Source: Elections - nytimes.com
