Fetterman to be first sitting Democratic U.S. senator to visit Trump at Mar-a-Lago
Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman has accepted an invitation from President-elect Donald Trump to meet with him at his Mar-a-Lago estate, according to multiple sources familiar with the plan.
“That’s the plan. Yes, we’re going to have a conversation,” Fetterman told CBS News of the upcoming meeting.
The visit will mark the first time a sitting U.S. Democratic senator has met with Trump at his Palm Beach residence since the election.
“I think he is the president, or he will officially be the president,” Fetterman said. “I think if the president wants to have a conversation — or invite someone to have a conversation — it would make perfect sense to have a conversation. No one He’s my gatekeeper.”
Trump met with Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser last month to discuss the inauguration, his office said in a statement and his second term.
However, a transition official warned that plans could change and that the Fetterman meeting has not yet been finalized.
Fetterman is the first Democrat to sponsor the bill Laken Riley Actwhich would force the federal government to detain noncitizens convicted of or charged with burglary, theft, theft or shoplifting. A version of the legislation has passed the House and is now before the Senate.
“We absolutely need to have a secure border, and I’ve been very supportive and protective of Dreamers,” Fetterman told The Washington Examiner on Tuesday.
Trump also wants Fetterman to support some of his nominees, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the sources said.
Trump won Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes in November after losing to President Joe Biden in 2020. Fetterman won the seat in 2022 and is up for re-election in 2028, when his home state is likely to become a presidential battleground again.
During his 2022 campaign against Fetterman, Trump once falsely claimed that the then-Pennsylvania lieutenant governor used illegal drugs including cocaine, heroin and fentanyl.
“I’m very aware that I’m in an ongoing conversation with people who are going to have an impact on Pennsylvania and the country,” Fetterman said. “I’m a Pennsylvania senator, not just a Democratic senator. I’m a Pennsylvania senator. Senator for everyone in the state.”
Fetterman has proven open to some of Trump’s proposals, even though most Democrats dismissed them out of hand. When the president-elect proposed this week that the United States should Control GreenlandFetterman said it’s an idea worth discussing.
“I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen. So, I mean, whatever happens, that’s going to be part of the conversation,” Fetterman told CBS News.
Trump aides also discussed meeting with some other Democratic members of Congress to discuss state and local taxes (SALT), a tax break that allows taxpayers to deduct all or part of their state or local taxes, but is capped at $10,000 for individual taxpayers .
Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan of New York urged Trump to involve Democrats in talks about limiting federal deductions.
“If President-elect Trump is serious about lifting the SALT cap and ending double taxation, he will need bipartisan support,” Ryan said in a statement Tuesday. “I will go to Mar-a-Lago in person if necessary. “
contributed to this report.
