UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

McConnell to Meet With Trump for First Face-to-Face Meeting in 4 Years

The Senate minority leader has not spoken directly to the former president since before the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attacks.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters on Tuesday that he plans to attend a meeting with Donald Trump this week, the first time the two men will be in the same room since before the Jan. 6, 2021 attacks on the U.S. Capitol. Trump’s forthcoming sit down with congressional Republicans in Washington, D.C. was first reported by NBC News, which noted that House Speaker Mike Johnson is similarly expected to attend. McConnell and Trump have not spoken since December 2020, with relations growing frosty in the wake of President Joe Biden’s election victory. McConnell formally recognized Biden as the president on Dec. 15, 2020, after the Democrat was confirmed the winner by the Electoral College. Though McConnell once said Trump was “morally responsible” for the Capitol insurrection, he has since changed his tune, and handed the presumptive Republican presidential nominee a key endorsement in March. “It is abundantly clear that former President Trump has earned the requisite support of Republican voters to be our nominee for President of the United States,” the speaker said. “It should come as no surprise that as nominee, he will have my support.”