Trump plans to return to the spotlight
Donald Trump will try to return to the political spotlight in a speech before a major rally of conservativesa source familiar with his plans said Saturday, as the Republican plots his moves after the White House.
Trump plans to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida on Feb. 28, the last day of their 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 over President (Joe) Biden’s disastrous amnesty and border policies, ”said the source.
Trump’s tumultuous four years in the White House ended shortly after he was impeached accused of instigating his supporters’ deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, where lawmakers gathered to confirm Biden’s victory in the Nov. 3 election.
After falsely claiming for two months that his election loss was the result of widespread fraud, Trump was acquitted in an impeachment trial in the Senate after he left office. The 57-43 votes fell short of the two-thirds majority needed for a conviction.
Trump has expressed anger at the 17 Republicans in the House of Representatives and Senate who voted to impeach or condemn him, and on Tuesday turned his rhetorical fire on Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, the country’s highest-elected Republican.
The loss of both the White House to Biden and control of the Senate – which Democrats picked up in a few upset election victories in Georgia last month – has made Republicans nervous as they plan how to regain control of Congress in 2022.
Trump and McConnell split up in the weeks following the November election, with Trump annoyed that the Kentucky Republican recognized Biden as the winner in mid-December. They have not spoken since then, a former White House official said this week.
Trump called McConnell ‘a stiff, gruff and unsmiling political hack’ this week, warning that if Republican senators stay with him, “they won’t win anymore.”
The rift between Trump and McConnell widened when the latter declared it by the Senate after the former president’s acquittal Trump was “practically and morally responsible” for the siege of the Capitol.
A number of top Republicans considered as possible candidates for the party’s 2024 presidential nomination will also speak at CPAC, including Trump 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 former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and former Vice President Mike Pence
Another source told Reuters Trump had turned down a request from Haley to meet him recently after criticizing him in a Politico article.