Romney and Collins at White House today

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The president will meet with some of his Republican critics ahead of a likely Senate trial that will decide the fate of his presidency.

By BURGESS EVERETT
11/21/2019 05:06 AM EST
Updated: 11/21/2019 09:25 AM EST

President Donald Trump is aggressively courting Senate Republicans as impeachment bears down, and on Thursday, he'll come face to face with two of the most unpredictable jurors in any Senate trial: Mitt Romney and Susan Collins.

By day's end, the president will have hosted more than 40 Republican senators at the White House since autumn began, mostly for weekly lunches that address a series of issues but also usually include a side of impeachment. Another group will head to the White House on Thursday, leaving just a handful of Republican senators untended by the president.

Romney has said it would be “wrong and appalling” for Trump to request foreign countries to dig up dirt on Joe Biden, prompting Trump to call Romney a “pompous arse.” But the Utah Republican seemed to be keeping an open mind heading into the meeting, even if impeachment comes up.

“It’s the president’s meeting. Whatever he wants to talk about, he can talk about,” Romney said. “I wasn’t expecting an invitation, but I’m happy to hear what the president wants to talk about.”

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A separate group of Republican senators, including Mike Lee of Utah, will meet with White House counsel Pat Cipollone on Thursday, according to a source familiar with the matter. Cipollone is regarded by Senate Republicans as the chief impeachment strategist at the White House and the meeting is likely to include some discussion of the forthcoming Senate trial that will occur if the House impeaches Trump.

The flurry of activity highlights the increasingly urgent task at hand for Trump: Making sure the GOP caucus understands his side of the Ukraine saga, not just through his tweets, but from him personally. If the 47 Democratic Caucus members stay united and vote to remove Trump from office, the president needs the support of as many of the 53 Senate Republicans as possible, both to avoid his removal from office and to keep the party from splintering ahead of his 2020 re-election bid.

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