A crowd of reporters, along with protesters and aides, appears to have gathered outside the Capitol Hill Club – a national social club for Republicans – ahead of Donald Trump’s visit to Capitol Hill:
Just a small sample of how many reporters, protestors and staffers are outside the Capitol Hill Club where former President Donald Trump will meet with House Republicans this morning. pic.twitter.com/2Uz966zFA9
Here is former House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s full statement that the she released ahead of Donald Trump’s visit to Capitol Hill on Thursday:
“Today, the instigator of an insurrection is returning to the scene of the crime. January 6th was a crime against the Capitol, that saw Nazi and Confederate flags flying under the dome that Lincoln built.
It was a crime against the constitution and its peaceful transfer of power, in a desperate attempt to cling to power. And it was a crime against Members, heroic police officers and staff, that resulted in death, injury and trauma that endure to this day.
With his pledges to be a dictator on day one and seek revenge against his political opponents, Donald Trump comes to Capitol Hill today with the same mission of dismantling our democracy. But make no mistake – Trump has already cemented his legacy of shame in our hallowed halls.”
Outgoing speaker of the House of Representative Nancy Pelosi (C) joins a bipartisan group of lawmakers on the east front steps of the US Capitol to honor the police officers who lost their lives in the attack on the Capitol, on the second anniversary of the January 6, 2021 attack in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2023. Photograph: Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images
Good morning,
Donald Trump is set to visit Capitol Hill for the first time since the January 6 riots in 2021.
Trump is expected to address House Republicans at the Capitol Hill Club and also meet with Senate Republicans at the National Republican Senatorial Committee headquarters, Politico reports.
Speaking to NBC, Mississippi’s Republican senator Roger Wicker said the visit from Trump “will be an expression of unity”.
Meanwhile, Democrats including the former House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, have hit back at Trump’s upcoming visit. In a statement on Thursday, Pelosi accused the former president of being on a mission of “dismantling our democracy”.
Trump’s visit comes after he was found guilty last month of 34 counts of falsifying business records in his historic hush-money trial involving the adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Here are other developments in US politics:
The Republican-led House has voted to hold the attorney general, Merrick Garland, in contempt for withholding audio recordings of Joe Biden in his classified-documents case.
The Democrat-led Senate is set to vote on a bill that would enshrine IVF access and protection across the country.
The supreme court is expected to announce several decisions today as Republicans vow to block an ethics bill surrounding the nation’s highest court amid a series of scandals involving justices accepting luxury gifts.