Former President Donald Trump on Thursday rallied Republican lawmakers at their Capitol Hill political headquarters with a raucous speech that called out Taylor Swift, Liz Cheney and even Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene over her long-standing beef with the GOP House speaker.
Republicans sang “Happy Birthday” to the presumptive presidential nominee, who is consistently leading President Biden in the polls less than six months from the election.
Lawmakers gave Mr. Trump several standing ovations and handed him a hat and a baseball bat from Wednesday night’s annual Congressional baseball game.
Rep. Mark Amodei, Nevada Republican, called the event “a pep rally” and “mandatory fun for everyone.”
Mr. Trump will spend Thursday in Washington in a rare visit here since leaving the White House more than three years ago. He has not set foot near the Capitol since Jan. 6, 2021, when his supporters rioted in the building over his election loss.
After meeting with House Republicans, Mr. Trump will attend a gathering of the Business Roundtable, an association of more than chief executive officers from America’s top companies.
SEE ALSO: Pelosi calls Trump’s latest Capitol visit a threat to democracy
Later, he’ll huddle near the Capitol with Senate Republicans, including his political nemesis Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, before holding a press conference with reporters near the Capitol.
With House Republicans, Mr. Trump talked policy, touching on abortion, energy production, taxes and getting the economy back on track.
“That was the most energized I’ve ever seen him,” Rep. Ralph Norman, South Carolina Republican, said.
Mr. Trump poked fun at his 2024 rival, questioning pop star Taylor Swift’s possible endorsement of Mr. Biden, who he said has difficulty finding his way off a stage.
He railed against the Justice Department, which is prosecuting him in two criminal cases involving his stash of classified documents and his efforts to block Mr. Biden’s election victory in 2020.
Mr. Trump called on lawmakers to be “nice” to House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, who is lately the target of Ms. Greene, a hardline conservative who recently sought to oust him for cooperating with Democrats on major legislation.
Ms. Greene, who attended the confab, responded tepidly, according to those in the room.
“He praised Mike,” Mr. Norman said. “It was a great, uplifting thing. Everybody was excited.”
Mr. Trump spoke in opposition to sending more money to Ukraine to fend off Russia and said the money should instead be spent on higher pay for troops.
He also called for lawmakers to endorse his new proposal to end federal taxes on tips and told the GOP to address abortion access with voters by tagging the Democrats for endorsing the procedure at any time during pregnancy.
Republicans, he said, should support exceptions for abortion limits and leave the matter up to the states.
Protesters gathered in front of the Capitol Hill Club, home of the Republican National Committee headquarters and where the meeting took place. They called for a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza and more spending on social welfare programs and health care.
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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