According to two political news outlets and APR‘s sources, former President Donald Trump met with Alabama Republican U.S. Senate candidate Katie Britt at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday.
The former president and Britt discussed a range of subjects, including Trump’s impression of Senate hopeful Mike Durant.
APR‘s sources with close ties to Mar-a-Lago insiders, say the meeting between the 45th president and Britt was very positive and cordial. These sources say Trump is impressed with Britt’s dynamic personality and fundraising prowess. The president likes candidates who can raise money and who connect with voters, and Britt’s ability to do both is undeniable, expressed one source familiar with the former president’s thinking.
As first to report the meeting, Politico wrote: “The former president has been having buyer’s remorse after endorsing Rep. Mo Brooks for Senate, watching with frustration as Brooks has failed to catch fire with the MAGA base.”
Britt has vastly outraised Brooks in campaign cash and is neck-and-neck in the latest polls.
Also, according to Politico: “Trump, we’re told, has complained to associates that Brooks has been working with anti-Trumpers and — worse, in his eyes — has been seeking the endorsement of Jeff Sessions.” Even now, Brooks refers to Sessions as “one of the best senators we ever had.”
Brooks’ loyalty to Sessions and seeking his endorsement is seen as a betrayal to Trump, who believes Sessions stabbed him in the back by recusing himself from the Justice Department’s Russia investigation.
In The Hill’s reporting on the meeting, they cited “some grumbling from Trump’s orbit beyond just his [Brooks’] lackluster fundraising and polls. He was booed at a Trump rally in August for telling attendees to put the 2020 race ‘behind you.’”
As for Durant’s candidacy, Trump is said to have expressed disgust at Mike Durant’s handling of his father’s years of sexually abusing his own daughter, as reported by APR.
Trump reportedly, according to one source, called Durant a “nasty man” for not standing up for his sister, Mary, when he knew the truth of what his father did to her.
According to an APR source, Trump has lately referred to Durant as the “John McCain candidate,” a derogatory reference to the deceased former senator from Arizona who often provoked Trump’s ire.
Trump has also said that Durant is “The Lincoln Project candidate,” which is the anti-Trump group that spent millions to defeat Trump in 2020.
Politico doesn’t see the meeting between Trump and Britt as a sure sign Trump will un-endorse Brooks, “but the fact that he met with her — something he rarely does after he endorses in a race — is telling about his current discontent with Brooks.”
Britt’s campaign declined to comment on the meeting between Trump and Britt.
