House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) will meet with Donald Trump at Trump’s golf club in New Jersey on Thursday, the former president announced in a statement Thursday.
“Kevin McCarthy will be meeting with me this afternoon at Trump National in Bedminster, N.J. Much to discuss!” Trump said in the statement, CNN reports.
The announcement of the meeting comes the day after the select committee investigating the Capitol riot said that it will hold its first public hearing on July 27, essentially setting a deadline for McCarthy to make his picks as to who will represent the GOP on the commission. Sources tell CNN that McCarthy intends to announce his selections before the first hearing.
McCarthy has struggled to distance himself and his caucus from Trump’s false claims of fraud in the 2020 election. The GOP leader said he did not believe “anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election” following a meeting with President Biden in May, even as Trump has put out statements casting doubt on the results for months.
McCarthy must now decide who to appoint to a select committee established to investigate the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, when hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the building to halt the certification of Biden’s victory.
McCarthy’s trip to Bedminster also coincides with a series of new revelations this week surrounding Trump’s final days in office that describe the former President’s increasingly defiant and belligerent behavior in refusing to concede his 2020 election loss.
