Trump To Go To Capitol As Republicans Near House Majority

(Bloomberg) -- President-elect Donald Trump will meet with House Republicans on Wednesday as the party awaits the prospect of scoring a trifecta in Washington with control of both chambers of Congress and the White House.

House Speaker Mike Johnson announced the meeting during a press conference, adding that the details were still being worked out but that the gathering could take place Wednesday morning before Trump also visits the White House. Trump was already slated to be in Washington for a meeting with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office.

“I think he said it first, before I did, that he wanted to come and visit with House Republicans,” Johnson said. “That would be a great meeting and a moment for all of us.”

Johnson said discussions have already taken place with Trump about the chamber’s agenda. The speaker said he plans to head to Trump’s south Florida home of Mar-a-Lago after their meeting in Washington, with plans to remain there “all weekend” to discuss their legislative plans.

The meeting comes with Republicans on the brink of clinching control of the US House, needing to win just four of the chamber’s 16 remaining uncalled races a week after Election Day. Parties need 218 seats to control the 435-member chamber and Republicans are leading in decided races by 214-205, according to the Associated Press.

Still, any GOP majority in the House promises to be razor-thin — a challenge complicated by Trump, who is tapping at least two Republican representatives for positions in his administration. 

The president-elect has selected Florida Representative Mike Waltz to serve as his national security adviser, according to people familiar, and has said he will nominate New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik to be the US ambassador to the United Nations. Each will have give up their House seats when they take the posts, leaving the seats temporarily vacant until filled by a special election.

Johnson on Tuesday told reporters he did not expect Trump to tap any additional House members as of now.

Across Capitol Hill, Republicans have already secured Senate control in last week’s election, with members of the upper chamber preparing to select a new majority leader. Senator Rick Scott of Florida, a staunch supporter of Trump, is launching an underdog bid against rivals John Thune of South Dakota and John Cornyn of Texas. 

Thune and Cornyn are both longtime deputies of outgoing Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and are favored over Scott in the contest, but the Florida senator has the backing of billionaire Elon Musk. Trump has yet to make an endorsement in the Senate leadership contest.

Here’s the latest on Trump’s transition:

Mark Paoletta, a Republican lawyer who is helping head up the transition efforts at the US Department of Justice, reiterated warnings for career officials to leave if they were not prepared to implement the incoming president’s policies, including cracking down on illegal immigration as well as undoing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts for the federal workforce.

“Deporting millions of illegal aliens out of this country, securing the border, banning DEI, all that destructive stuff that the Biden administration let run wild, getting boys out of girls sports — those are all the things that the Department of Justice is going to work on,” Paoletta said Tuesday on Fox News Channel’s Fox and Friends. 

“Those are the things that the Department of Justice employees — career employees — are going to support, and if they don’t want to support it, they should leave,” he added.

Paoletta previously served as general counsel in the Office and Management and Budget during Trump’s first term.

Trump is tapping South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem to head the Department of Homeland Security, CNN reported, tapping a Republican once seen as a potential vice presidential pick for a job that will be critical to implementing the president-elect’s policies on immigration.

As head of DHS, Noem would have a frontline role in helping carry out what Trump has vowed will be the largest mass deportation of undocumented migrants in the nation’s history.

Noem would be working alongside Tom Homan, whom Trump has tapped as the White House “border czar” and with Stephen Miller, an immigration hardliner, whom he plans to tap as White House deputy chief of staff for policy.