Former President Donald Trump won’t be a speaker at an upcoming House Republicans’ conference in Florida.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said Thursday “we don’t have any federal speakers coming talking to us in here,” the Washington Examiner reported.
“I look forward to the president coming back and talking to the conference, but that isn’t this one,” McCarthy said, the news outlet reported.
The GOP issues conference is set for Orlando from Sunday to Tuesday.
“We don’t put out the invitation to the retreat,” McCarthy said. “The way we’re designing it is a policy retreat. … It’s not like retreats in the past where there’s federal speakers coming in. We don’t have any.”
“But I welcome the president coming and speaking,” he added.
McCarthy’s remarks were different than those of House Republican Conference chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who told The Hill she hadn’t invited the former president.
Cheney was one of 10 GOP lawmakers in the House who voted in favor of impeaching Trump on the “incitement of insurrection” impeachment article this year.
Invitations to the Republicans’ annual retreat are sent by the Congressional Institute, a nonprofit group that organizes the event. Trump in 2019 spoke at the GOP gathering when he was president.
McCarthy in January emphasized that Trump would be working with House Republicans when it comes to the 2022 midterm elections.
“House Republicans and the Trump administration achieved historic results for all Americans. We were able to do this because we listened to and understood the concerns of our fellow citizens that had long been ignored. As a result, House Republicans defied the experts and the media by expanding our growing coalition across the country,” McCarthy said at the time.
“Today, President Trump committed to helping elect Republicans in the House and Senate in 2022,” he added, saying a GOP majority will “solve the challenges facing our nation.”
