Trump’s plans are back in the spotlight
Donald Trump will try to return to the political spotlight in a speech at a major conservative meeting, said a source familiar with his plans on Saturday, while the Republican plots his post-White House changes.
Trump plans to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida on February 28, the last day of the meeting, the source told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
“He will talk about the future of the Republican Party and the conservative movement. Also look for the 45th president to take on President (Joe) Biden’s disastrous border and amnesty policies“said the source.
Trump’s tumultuous four years in the White House ended shortly after he was accused of impeachment on charges of inciting his supporters’ deadly attack on January 6 to the United States Capitol, where lawmakers met to certify Biden’s victory in the November 3 elections.
After spending two months falsely claiming that his electoral defeat was the result of widespread fraud, Trump was acquitted in an impeachment trial held in the Senate after leaving office. The 57-43 vote fell short of the two-thirds majority needed for a conviction.
Trump expressed anger at the 17 Republicans in the House of Representatives and Senate who voted for impeachment or sentencing, and on Tuesday he aimed his rhetorical fire at Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, the country’s oldest elected Republican.
The loss of the White House to Biden and control of the Senate – which Democrats won in two victories in the second round of Georgia’s election last month – made Republicans nervous as they planned how to regain control of Congress in 2022.
Trump and McConnell split up in the weeks after the November election, with Trump angry that the Kentucky Republican recognized Biden as the winner in mid-December. They haven’t spoken since, a former White House official said this week.
Trump called McConnell “a severe, taciturn and serious political hack” this week and warned that if Republican senators stay with him “they will not win again.”
The gap between Trump and McConnell widened when the latter declared, after the ex-president’s acquittal by the Senate, that Trump was “practically and morally responsible” for the siege of the Capitol.
Several important Republicans who are considered possible candidates for the party’s presidential nomination in 2024 they must also speak at CPAC, including Trump’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota.
Two notable Republicans from the Trump administration who are not on the CPAC speaker list are ex- UN ambassador Nikki Haley and former Vice President Mike Pence.
Another source told Reuters that Trump declined a request from Haley to meet with him recently after she criticized him in an Politico article.