Former President Donald Trump leaving a meeting with Republican parliamentarians, in Washington DC, June 13, 2024 (AFP / Brendan SMIALOWSKI)
Two weeks after his criminal conviction, Donald Trump is traveling to Washington on Thursday for a major charm offensive with Republican parliamentarians and business owners.
The former president very rarely visits the American federal capital, a city that he abhors and where a new trial awaits him.
The Republican, candidate for the November presidential election against outgoing Democratic Joe Biden, arrived early in the morning, with his fist raised, to a meeting with parliamentarians from his party.
A breakfast organized just a stone’s throw from the Capitol, the seat of the American Congress, stormed by his supporters in January 2021, and where Donald Trump has not visited since.
Surrounded by Republican parliamentarians, the tempestuous septuagenarian discussed his legal troubles at length, according to a Republican leader, but also spoke about abortion, a highly sensitive issue in the middle of the electoral campaign.
Donald Trump, for his part, spoke of a “great meeting”.
– The chaos of the Capitol –
In the afternoon, Donald Trump, who left Washington with a bang in 2021, is due to meet Republican senators, and in particular the conservative tenor Mitch McConnell.
US Senator Mitch McConnell gives a press conference on April 23, 2024 in Washington (AFP / Mandel NGAN)
Relations between the two men have been frosty since the assault on the Capitol.
On that cold January day, thousands of Donald Trump supporters attacked the headquarters of the US Congress in an attempt to oppose the certification of Joe Biden’s election, causing unimaginable chaos.
Mitch McConnell, leader of the Republicans, then had very strong words towards Donald Trump, accusing him of being “responsible” for the assault.
However, this did not prevent the octogenarian senator from rallying behind the Republican’s candidacy for the presidential election.
“I said three years ago, right after the attack on the Capitol, that I would support our (Republican) candidate, whoever he was, including him (Donald Trump),” he justified. at a press conference this week.
– “A fair stand” –
Former US President Donald Trump prepares to deliver a campaign speech on June 9, 2024 in Las Vegas in the United States (AFP / Jim WATSON)
In the midst of all these exchanges with parliamentarians, Donald Trump will also meet the leaders of the largest American companies, members of the Business Roundtable organization.
The pressure group, which represents the bosses of Amazon, Apple and McDonald’s, regularly takes positions on subjects directly concerning its members, such as taxation or international trade agreements, but also on broader social subjects, such as violence. against minorities.
Joe Biden was also invited to an exchange with these bosses, but the Democratic president is currently traveling to Italy to attend a G7 summit.
In front of these big business leaders, Donald Trump will detail how his program “will offer tax cuts, record deregulation, fair trade, abundant energy and low inflation,” said his entourage.
“Donald Trump wouldn’t even be able to manage a fair stand, much less our country,” retorted a spokesperson for Joe Biden’s campaign team, James Singer.
“He is a crook, a conman, a failed businessman and a president who left America in ruins.”
