A day after a defiant Donald Trump clashed with some anxious Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill, the presumptive GOP nominee is headed to another potentially contentious spot: Miami.
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In the landscape of presidential politics, Montana has been solid Republican territory.
Trump complained about Republican lawmakers who have criticized him, according to attendees.
NBC reports that Arizona Senator Jeff Flake had a tense exchange with Trump for his fiery comments regarding Senator John McCain’s war record.
“He’s not a war hero“, Trump said then.
The senator had earlier introduced himself as “the other senator from Arizona – the one who didn’t get captured”.
He was referring to Trump’s comments past year when the real estate mogul questioned whether senior Arizona Sen.
At a conference a year ago, Trump minimized McCain’s experience as a former prisoner of war held captive for 5 1/2 years at North Vietnam’s “Hanoi Hilton” prison after the Navy plane he was piloting got shot down.
Trump’s trip to Washington on Thursday highlighted the lingering concerns among congressional Republicans over controversial remarks he continues to deliver on the campaign trail and how they may affect GOP members facing tough reelection battles.
The Arizona Senator told Trump that he wants to be able to support him, due to he was not part of the “never Trump movement”.
“My position remains, I want to support the nomination”.
During the meeting Trump recognized Flake as a lawmaker critical of him.
“There was no talk of pivoting”.
Diaz-Balart said he was glad the New Yorker reached out to him and about 200 other Republican House members. “I think you’re seeing the process of unification start”, he said. Republican lawmakers are skeptical about Trump’s victory.
Mr. Toomey’s Democratic challenger had much more to say about the meeting.
House Speaker Paul Ryan called the meeting “great”.
“He got a standing ovation when he walked in-even before he said a word”, he said.
“I have great faith in American voters”.
At one point, he turned to Ivanka and asked her to vouch for the fact that he won’t “let you down”. To be fair, other members, including 7th District Congressman Sean Duffy, a Trump supporter, spoke glowingly of Trump’s performance.
That explanation was well-received.
“We had a positive and productive meeting this morning with Donald Trump”.
Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., left the meeting anxious about Trump’s grasp on the basics of the Constitution. There are only seven articles. Asked if Trump could win his home state in November, Kirk said, “I don’t think so”.
“If you look at the trajectory of his unforced errors, he’s getting better”, said Rep. Bill Flores of Texas. “I think it went really well”. Likely declared as a dismissal of presumptive nominee Donald Trump, Sen.
Dozens of Republican members of the United States Congress emerged gobsmacked and star-struck Thursday after meeting privately with their party’s putative presidential standard-bearer, praising Donald J. Trump for his erudition, composure, breadth of knowledge and attention to policy detail. Among them are former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, 2012 nominee Mitt Romney and former presidential candidates Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said of this week’s shootings.
Sen. Deb Fischer also attended the meeting. As president, she said, she plans to commit $1 billion “to find and fund’ training programs and research to deal with that”. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), should know that there is no conceivable upside to endorsing Trump.
And the final weeks of Cruz’s campaign were dominated by Trump’s personal attacks against the Texas senator and his family as the fight between the two men grew increasingly bitter and personal.
Trump responded that he has yet to attack Flake hard but threatened to begin doing so. He described Trump’s language as offensive and wrong. Mark Kirk of IL, who wasn’t in Thursday’s meeting with Senate Republicans and had withdrawn his endorsement of the nominee over his inflammatory comments about the judge. Correll says Virginia law is unconstitutional because it allows for criminal penalties for GOP delegates who don’t vote for the victor of the March 1 primary, which Trump won. Please see our terms of service for more information. “Eastern, privileged, wealthy bully”, Kirk said later.
“Trump spent about 10 minutes answering the question – why he thought he could turn that around”, King said.
There were also signs of skepticism.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger of IL, an outspoken Trump critic, said there was a lack of energy in the room. He told Trump he was anxious about his ability to appeal to the broader electorate during the general election.
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At one meeting Trump defended his comments about Saddam Hussein, accusing the media of misconstruing his comments, according to sources who were in the room. Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in Miami contributed.
