‘No One Is My Gatekeeper’: Fetterman Will Be First Sitting Democratic Senator to Meet Trump at Mar-a-Lago
Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) will become the first sitting Democratic senator to meet with President-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence.
According to a report by CBS News, Fetterman accepted an invitation to meet at the estate at an undisclosed upcoming date. The trip marks the first time a Democratic senator has met with Trump at the property since he won the November election.
Recently, Fetterman has broken off from the Democratic voting caucus by backing the Laken Riley Act, a bill that requires the federal government to detain undocumented migrants who have been convicted of or charged with burglary, larceny, theft or shoplifting.
In a statement to CBS News, Fetterman noted it was “pretty reasonable” that Trump would want to have a conversation while adding that “no one is” his “gatekeeper.”
“That is the plan. Yes, we are going to have a conversation,” Fetterman said regarding the upcoming meeting. “I think that one, he’s the president, or he will be officially…and I think it’s pretty reasonable that if the president would like to have a conversation — or invite someone to have a conversation — to have it. And no one is my gatekeeper.”
An official with Trump’s transition team did tell CBS News that the meeting has not been finalized and could change.
Fetterman is not the first prominent Democratic to meet with Trump at Mar-a-Lago since he won the election. Last month, the president-elect met with Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) to discuss the inauguration and his return to the White House.