Politics

GOP Reps Make Up Ridiculous Excuses To Get Out Of Trump Meeting

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Six Republican senators running for re-election in tight races opted not to attend Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s meeting on the Hill Thursday.

Sens. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Mark Kirk of Illinois, Rob Portman of Ohio, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Rand Paul of Kentucky, John McCain of Arizona, and Marco Rubio of Florida all skipped Trump’s remarks Thursday, making often flimsy excuses in the process.

Toomey and Portman told reporters they hadn’t checked their schedule, and were not sure what they were supposed to do instead. No further statement was issued. Paul told reporters he was unaware of the meeting when asked.

“I’m chairman of the Armed Services Committee,” McCain told reporters. “We scheduled this hearing a couple of months ago. So I can’t just walk out of there.”

“I’ve got to be in the chair at the same time presiding over the Senate in my regular time, but I’m obviously, of all the people in that room, other than Ted Cruz, I’m quite familiar with his positions on a number of issues,” Rubio told reporters.

In addition to the senators, a large number of representatives also declined to attend the meeting.

Republican Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan told reporters he “had a longstanding appointment downtown.” Politico reported that another member’s response included a “breakfast meeting.” The unnamed representative took out his schedule, and tried to show reporters his full schedule, but the time slot for the Trump meeting was empty. The representative took out a pen and added it to his schedule, adding, “See, I have one!”

The members that came to the meeting gave the presumptive Republican nominee a standing ovation not once, but twice. Trump arrived 20 minutes late to the event with his daughter, Ivanka Trump.

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