What We Know About Donald Trump's Meetings on Capitol Hill
— -- Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump will travel to Washington, D.C., Thursday for a series of meetings with top Republican leaders in an effort to bring the party together after a messy and divisive primary race.
Here's what to expect:
Trump's Meetings
Trump has at least three meetings planned with GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill, who largely spurned his presidential campaign during the GOP primary.
He'll first meet with House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus at the RNC at 9 a.m. Trump will then meet with Ryan and the other members on his leadership team: House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, Republican Conference Chair Cathy McMorris-Rodgers, R-Washington, and Deputy Majority Whip Patrick McHenry, R-North Carolina.
Ryan and McMorris-Rodgers have not yet endorsed Trump's campaign, while McCarthy and Scalise have said they will support the Republican nominee.
Later Thursday morning, Trump will meet with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, along with his leadership team: Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, John Barrasso, R-Wyoming, and John Thune, R-South Dakota. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee -- Senate Republicans' campaign arm -- will also attend the meeting at the NRSC headquarters.
One person Trump won't be meeting? His former rival, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who told reporters today that Trump has not been in touch with him. "There are no plans for us to meet," Cruz said.
What They'll Discuss
Ryan, in his weekly leadership conference this morning, cast his sit-down with Trump as more of a meet-and-greet and less of an opportunity to hammer out policy differences. Aides to the speaker also stress the meeting will be focused on the big picture, not specific policy.
“I don't really know him. I met him once in 2012, we had a very good conversation in March on the phone,” Ryan told reporters today. “We just need to get to know each other.”
Ryan has repeatedly criticized Trump's campaign and policy proposals during the primary, and also disagrees with him on immigration and entitlement reform, among other policy areas.
While Ryan continues to stress that the goal is true party unity, he has repeatedly declined to outline what assurances he needs from the presumptive nominee to feel confident in endorsing him.
“To pretend we're unifying without actually unifying, then we go into the fall at half strength. This election is too important to go into an election at half strength. That means we need a real unification of our party,” Ryan said. “After a tough primary, that's going to take some effort. We are committed to putting that effort in.
“This is a big-tent party, there is plenty of room for policy disputes in this party. We come from different wings of the party, the goal here is to unify the party around common principles,” he reiterated. “We have an obligation to merge and unify around these common principles to offer this country a choice, a better way forward.”
Trump, who threatened to oppose the House GOP election-year policy agenda after Ryan said he was not prepared to endorse the New York businessman, has praised Ryan in recent interviews, and said he's looking forward to the meeting.
Will Trump Meet With Other Members of Congress?
Ryan addressed Thursday’s meeting briefly at the top of today's House GOP conference meeting with members, some of whom expressed concerns about Trump’s stated opposition to entitlement reform, according to aides present in the room for the meeting.
Members also appeared interested in having an opportunity to meet with Trump for themselves, though top GOP aides suggest the presumptive nominee would have to ask for that meeting first.
ABC News' Jordyn Phelps contributed to this report.
