After Donald Trump’s much-ballyhooed trip Thursday to Capitol Hill, some Republican senators present in his meeting with GOP Senate leadership praised him for his willingness to “listen” behind closed doors.
“He was like I’ve always known: very straightforward … very open about what he believes, very cordial,” Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) — the most-senior Republican senator and one of those present at the meeting — told reporters in the Capitol Thursday afternoon.
“I’ve always been impressed, but I was really impressed today,” Hatch said.
According to Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), the Senate majority whip who was also in attendance, Trump “seemed certainly open and willing to listen.”
“He is actually a pretty affable guy, much different than sort of the public demeanor, but it must be working for him,” Cornyn said.
Trump met with Hatch, Cornyn, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and other prominent GOP senators at the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee offices a few blocks from the Capitol. The meeting lasted about an hour. Outside a group of anti-Trump protesters chanted and sang. Earlier in the morning Trump also met with Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), and other House leaders at the RNC headquarters.
The Kumbaya moment comes as some Republican lawmakers, including Ryan, balked at supporting him outright after he emerged the GOP nominee last week.
But the words “positive” and “productive” were lobbed frequently by senators to describe Thursday’s pow-wow.
“It was a very gracious and positive meeting and I already feel pretty good about it, but I feel even better,” said Sen. Roger Wicker, who, as the NRSC chair, attended the Trump meeting.
“It was a good back and forth,” he told reporters afterward.
According to those present in the Senate meeting, the topics of discussion included trade, energy, the debt, the Supreme Court, as well as the impact Trump will have down the ballot.
“I think they’ve got some work to do on the policy front,” Cornyn said, when asked if Trump had settled on a tax plan.
Cornyn also said that, as a border state senator who won a majority of Texas’ Hispanic vote, he offered Trump some advice on his tone on immigration: “I said, there is a way to talk about these issues that people don’t find offensive yet still make the point that we’re all for secure borders.”
There was “some peripheral discussion” of Trump’s proposal to ban Muslim immigration, Hatch said, adding, “but I can’t remember what was said.”
But more generally, those present said they weren’t too concerned about Trump’s rhetoric.
“He doesn’t have to [change his tone],” Hatch said, “because the whole discussion was very solid.”
Hatch was asked if he got the sense that Trump was on board with Republicans and their agenda.
“Well, it was only an hour-long discussion,” he said.
Lauren Fox contributed to this report.
