Tension Occurs During Trump’s Meeting With Senate Republicans
Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump went to Capitol Hill several days ago to try and unify his party in hopes of beating Hillary Clinton. With the backing of Senate Republicans Trump stands a better chance at garnering more votes during the general election.
However, things got a little tense when Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake confronted Trump on his rhetoric.
“You’ve been very critical of me,” Trump said in his opening statements to Flake.
“Yes, I’m the other senator from Arizona — the one who didn’t get captured — and I want to talk to you about statements like that,” Flake responded. He was, of course, referring to the incident in which Trump made inflammatory comments about Sen. John McCain for not being a war hero.
Flake mostly wanted him to change his tune when it came to immigration and Latino people — specifically to stop attacking Mexicans. The Republican senator did acknowledge, though, that he was not part of the “Never Trump” movement, and would support Trump under the right circumstances.
Various media outlets reported that the meeting was a disaster, making it appear Trump might be dividing instead of unifying. But Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign chairman, dispelled that rumor via a statement.
“Today’s meeting was positive and productive and these characterizations, attributed to unnamed sources, are wholly inaccurate,” Manafort said. “The conversation was very positive and substantive. The Members were in total agreement with Mr. Trump of the need to unite the Party and work together to win the Presidency and keep a Republican Congress. Mr. Trump was pleased with the discussion and looks forward to working together with the Republican Party leadership towards defeating Hillary Clinton in November.”
A number of other Republicans also expressed concern about Trump’s rhetoric during the meeting. But House Speaker Paul Ryan was hopeful about the outcome.
“We clearly have a presumptive nominee who wants to work with us on moving this agenda forward,” he said. (For more from the author of “Tension Occurs During Trump’s Meeting With Senate Republicans” please click HERE)
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