Trump to Go to Capitol as Republicans Near House Majority

President-elect Donald Trump will meet with House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday, according to a person familiar with their plans, as Republicans await the prospect of scoring a trifecta in Washington with control of both chambers of Congress and the White House.

The two will meet on Capitol Hill, according to the person who discussed their plans on condition of anonymity. The president-elect will also address rank-and-file Republican House members, according to people familiar.

Trump was already slated to be in Washington on Wednesday for a meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House. Johnson will head to Trump’s south Florida home of Mar-a-Lago after the meeting in Washington, a person familiar said.

The meeting comes with Republicans on the brink of clinching control of the US House, needing to win just four of the chamber’s 16 remaining uncalled races a week after Election Day. Parties need 218 seats to control the 435-member chamber and Republicans are leading in decided races by 214-205, according to the Associated Press.

Still, any GOP majority in the House promises to be razor-thin — a challenge complicated by Trump, who is tapping at least two Republican representatives for positions in his administration.

The president-elect has selected Florida Representative Mike Waltz to serve as his national security adviser, according to people familiar, and has said he will nominate New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik to be the US ambassador to the United Nations. Each will have give up their House seats when they take the posts, leaving the seats temporarily vacant until filled by a special election.

Trump’s congressional meetings were previously reported by Politico and Punchbowl.

Across Capitol Hill, Republicans have already secured Senate control in last week’s election, with members of the upper chamber preparing to select a new majority leader. Senator Rick Scott of Florida, a staunch supporter of Trump, is launching an underdog bid against rivals John Thune of South Dakota and John Cornyn of Texas.

Thune and Cornyn are both longtime deputies of outgoing Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and are favored over Scott in the contest, but the Florida senator has the backing of billionaire Elon Musk. Trump has yet to make an endorsement in the Senate leadership contest.

Here’s the latest on Trump’s transition:

Clearing the Deck

Mark Paoletta, a Republican lawyer who is helping head up the transition efforts at the US Department of Justice, reiterated warnings for career officials to leave if they were not prepared to implement the incoming president’s policies, including cracking down on illegal immigration as well as undoing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts for the federal workforce.

“Deporting millions of illegal aliens out of this country, securing the border, banning DEI, all that destructive stuff that the Biden administration let run wild, getting boys out of girls sports — those are all the things that the Department of Justice is going to work on,” Paoletta said Tuesday on Fox News Channel’s Fox and Friends.

“Those are the things that the Department of Justice employees — career employees — are going to support, and if they don’t want to support it, they should leave,” he added.

Paoletta previously served as general counsel in the Office and Management and Budget during Trump’s first term.

Immigration Team Takes Shape

Trump is tapping South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem to head the Department of Homeland Security, CNN reported, tapping a Republican once seen as a potential vice presidential pick for a job that will be critical to implementing the president-elect’s policies on immigration.

As head of DHS, Noem would have a frontline role in helping carry out what Trump has vowed will be the largest mass deportation of undocumented migrants in the nation’s history.

Read more: Trump Picks Kristi Noem to Lead Homeland Security, CNN Reports

Noem would be working alongside Tom Homan, whom Trump has tapped as the White House “border czar” and with Stephen Miller, an immigration hardliner, whom he plans to tap as White House deputy chief of staff for policy.