Let’s not get sidetracked: That’s the message House Republicans want to double down as former President Donald Trump is about to be indicted by the Manhattan district attorney.
Members of the Republican Party descended on the luxurious Orlando JW Marriott for a three-day retreat to celebrate their achievements and discuss their priorities for the future.
But since the rocky start to their new control of the House, members of the GOP now insist they are entering a new “era of good feelings” and will not let the former president and his chronic legal battles divide them.
Now, in almost every media outlet in retirement, Republicans have flagged policy games on China, energy, crime and education, and have been forced by reporters to put Trump on record.
Right after the bombshell impeachment revelation, Republican leaders offered a fierce defense of the former president. Now they try to play it down and insist that the members not talk about him behind closed doors.
Members of the Republican Party descended on the luxurious Orlando JW Marriott for a three-day retreat to celebrate their achievements and discuss their priorities for the future.
Trump and his potential impeachment loomed large in the Republican House withdrawal
On Sunday, the first day of the withdrawal from the annual agenda, President Kevin McCarthy said he did not believe people should protest, insisting that Trump’s calls to do just that were “misinterpreted.”
On the third day, the speaker praised reporters for waiting at least until after the first question to question him about Trump.
“We are not going to talk about this at our conference,” he insisted on the Trump issue. You’re just asking about it. Just master your question.
“We are not here to defend President Trump,” McCarthy said. ‘What we are here to defend equal justice in America.’
A law enforcement official told DailyMail.com that Trump’s impeachment will not come until Wednesday at the earliest.
McCarthy said he had not spoken to Trump in about three weeks and had not communicated with him about the Bragg investigation. Republican conference chairwoman Elise Stefanik said she spoke with Trump by phone Monday morning.
Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD), the chair of the center-right Main Street Caucus who has been the most hesitant to come to Trump’s defense, backed McCarthy’s claims.
“It’s not something we’re talking about,” the South Dakota Republican told DailyMail.com in a sit-down interview at the adjoining Ritz-Carlton.
“So we’re certainly not, it’s not overshadowing our work in the room,” the South Dakota Republican-at-large said. “It’s what the media wants to talk about when we go out.”
When asked to respond to allegations of improper hush money payments paid by Trump’s personal lawyer to Stormy Daniels, President McCarthy pointed to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee: both were fined for failing to correctly disclose the money they spent on the opposition. investigation related to the Trump-Russia dossier.
“It was personal money, I wasn’t trying to hide it, this was seven years ago, the statute of limitations,” McCarthy said, referring to Daniels’ payment. “I think in your heart of hearts, you also know that you think this is just political.”
At one point, McCarthy was asked if Trump was still the “leader of his party.”
“He’s in the newsroom for all of you,” the California Republican responded.
“We are not here to defend President Trump,” McCarthy said. ‘What we are here to defend equal justice in America.’
McCarthy listed House Republican accomplishments of the first three months: voting on a bill to recoup $80 billion from the IRS, establishing a select committee on China, ending proxy voting, voting to protect the Reserve Petroleum Strategy and force the president’s first veto. on a bill that opposes ESG investing: the upcoming vote on the Parents’ Bill of Rights and the HR 1 power package.
“Now you have a relationship between the speaker and your minority leader that we didn’t have before,” McCarthy continued, referring to the friendlier tone between him and Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries.
‘So what’s interesting to me is that we’ve turned Congress on its head in less than three months. Now the real question you really want to ask me: can I turn the newsroom upside down? She complained. ‘I believe in you.’
‘Era of good feelings’: Republicans insist their message of unity isn’t just for show
After a 15-speaker vote that nearly sparked a fistfight on the House floor, Republicans insist their conference is now surprisingly united.
“We just got to a conference on a topic that didn’t see a fight,” McCarthy said, marking what he saw as a victory.
“I think it’s remarkable, this era of good sentiments…it seems to me that in a more traditional MO it’s people being nice, but then interested in undermining people in private,” Rep. Johnson reflected in an interview with DailyMail.com.
“For traditional conservatives like Dusty Johnson and you know, Freedom Caucus leaders like Scott Perry and centrists like Don Baker and Brian Fitzpatrick, for all these different camps to get along and try to work together, that’s a place quite unusual for House Republicans.’
“After that first difficult week, I think a lot of people were wondering if we would ever be able to get our act together.”
“There’s a real sense that we’re operating as a team,” Johnson added. “I think you probably don’t have many members trying to plant stories that make other members look like idiots.”
“People underestimated how effective our House Republican majority would be,” Stefanik told DailyMail.com, noting that Biden signed the Republican bill to derail Washington, DC’s criminal justice reform on Tuesday.
Speaker hails new bipartisanship on China
The speaker praised the universal agreement to stifle competition from China when he said that he and Jeffries had sat down with the China subcommittee and told them to work across the aisle.
“This is not a place where there will be bipartisanship.”
McCarthy later criticized President Biden for what he described as allowing China to tighten its grip on other parts of the world.
‘Biden has brought China to the Middle East, where they are now negotiating a deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran. That used to be America. It happened at Camp David.
‘So the world scares me where it is and why do they think they can do this? Because it became a vacuum of leadership, of strength, of questioning the commitment of the United States or whether they can trust us,” McCarthy added. ‘Underlying all of that is US energy policy.’
Republicans are not backing down in a fight on the brink of an unprecedented debt default
Republicans also insisted they won’t blink in the debt ceiling negotiations. They say the debt limit will not be increased beyond $31.4 trillion without budget cuts.
Biden insists that Congress agree to raise the borrowing limit with no strings attached, and McCarthy has said his party will not allow new borrowing without budget cuts.
“You have a president who is unwilling and wants a clean increase in the debt ceiling, that will never happen,” Stefanik told DailyMail.com.
“I think a lot of Americans assume that things are as bad as ever. The reality is that they are much worse,” Johnson said, noting that the United States is expected to pay $10 trillion in interest over the next decade.
“In the next decade, it gets much, much worse.”
McCarthy, who blamed the Silicon Valley Bank crisis on inflation that caused the Fed to raise interest rates, said the bank bailout should “wake everyone up” about the debt ceiling.
Biden released his $6.8 trillion budget plan earlier this month; Republicans have yet to release their own plan, which is supposed to arrive in April. Biden has said he will not sit down with McCarthy to discuss a debt ceiling deal until the Republican budget for fiscal 2024 is released.
Budget Chair Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, said members had an impassioned and engaged two-hour discussion about how we control this seemingly out-of-control spending, this never-ending gap in our spending and income, and our debt. national. ‘
Ways and Means president Jason Smith called it a “family spat.”
“We’ve noted that this is how we legislate at this conference, it’s 222. And that’s how we’re going to move, whether it’s on the budget or on the debt limit.”
