WASHINGTON D.C. — Former President Donald Trump’s first public appearance since leaving the White House will come at the Conservative Political Action Conference next Sunday in Orlando.
Trump is expected to speak about "the future of the Republican Party and the conservative movement," according to CNN. Another signal of his intention to continue being a figure in Republican politics.
His appearance will come on the heels of a public spat with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, in which the former president vowed to back primary challengers against Republican politicians who don’t align with him.
"Where necessary and appropriate, I will back primary rivals who espouse Making America Great Again and our policy of America First," said Former President Trump.
The President's son Eric Trump made a similar statement on Twitter last month, "I will personally work to defeat every single Republican Senator/ Congressman who doesn’t stand up against this fraud - they will be primaried in their next election and they will lose," he said in a now deleted tweet about GOP politicians who voted to certify the Electoral College votes.
If that’s the case, U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer, R-Grand Rapids and Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph could both see primary challengers backed by Trump, being just two of 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach him last month.
Both lawmakers were censuredby some county-level parties because of those votes, Upton’s office in the meantime telling FOX 17 they are focused on addressing issues facing Southwest Michiganders.
"Fred's going to keep working and delivering results for southwest Michigan. There's a reason he's undefeated in all of his elections and just won again by 16 points. In our district, Fred received 13,000 more votes than former President Trump, and Fred's margin of victory was three times larger than Trump's,” Upton’s Communications Director Josh Paciorek said. “We'll let the numbers speak for themselves."
Meijer’s office didn’t provide a comment but Meijer has already garnered a primary challenger in fellow veteran Tom Norton, who finished third in the 2020 3rd District Republican Primary.
When FOX 17 interviewed Norton last month, he said he was getting the support of Trump ally Steve Bannon.
