ICYMI: Ricketts Discusses Trump Meeting with GOP Senators with KFAB
June 14, 2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE) attended a meeting with former President Trump to discuss his agenda and the most pressing concerns facing Americans.
In a radio interview with KFAB’s Emery Songer, Ricketts shared some of the topics Trump touched on during the meeting including inflation, developing America’s energy resources, and securing the border.
“We had a great meeting with President Trump today with the Republican Senators just expressing unity,” Ricketts said. “It was actually a very unifying meeting. He said he’s one thousand percent behind us and he really wants to work with us to enact his agenda when he gets elected. We have lots of opportunities. He spoke about, some of the ones that everybody is seeing like inflation.”
Ricketts said President Trump also touched on concerns with border security and the importance of projecting national strength. Trump specifically cited the Russian military exercises taking place in Cuba. The first Russian military exercises in the Western Hemisphere since 2008.
“He also talked about the need to project strength,” Ricketts continued. “He said, ‘Hey, you know, if I was President, Putin wouldn’t be doing military exercises off the coast of Cuba.’ Which I 100% agree with. President Trump always projected strength. I don’t think there’s any way that Putin would have invaded Ukraine if President Trump was still in office. So he talked about the importance for that.
TRANSCRIPT
KFAB’s Emery Songer: “First thing I wanted to tackle with you is, you had the opportunity to meet with President Trump. You’ve talked to the movers and shakers in Washington, D.C. all the time, and obviously we’re getting into a pretty, gut-check time in politics over the next few months. What was learned today and what can you report to us about, kind of what the plan is for the next few months?”
Senator Ricketts: “We had a great meeting with President Trump today with the Republican Senators just expressing unity. It was actually a very unifying meeting. He said he’s one thousand percent behind us and he really wants to work with us to enact his agenda when he gets elected. We have lots of opportunities.
“He spoke about, some of the ones that everybody is seeing like inflation. One of the things he wants to do is start utilizing our energy resources, developing them to be able to bring down energy costs for working Americans. Again, obviously that’s a no brainer. The Biden administration has been attacking U.S. energy, and especially at a time when we’ve got a very dangerous world right now, it just makes no sense.
“President Trump also talked about making sure we secure the border. Obviously, he knows how to do that because he brought illegal border crossings down to a 45-year low.
“He also talked about the need to project strength. He said, ‘Hey, you know, if I was President, Putin wouldn’t be doing military exercises off the coast of Cuba.’ Which I 100% agree with. President Trump always projected strength. I don’t think there’s any way that Putin would have invaded Ukraine if President Trump was still in office. So he talked about the importance for that.
“And then, he got into one of his policy ideas I thought that was really, really great. He was talking about tips. When you’re an hourly worker and you get tips, he said, ‘Hey, let’s not tax tips.’ The Biden administration has just made the paperwork around reporting taxes for tips harder. We’re talking about somebody who’s going to be an hourly server in your restaurant, and now we’re making it harder on them to fill out more paperwork to report their tips. So President Trump [said] let’s make tips tax free. I think it’s a great idea. It’s a great idea to help people, especially hourly workers who are feeling the pinch of inflation to be able to be able to combat that. At some point, you’ve got to say if we’re just making more paperwork and more burdens for people, is there really a benefit.
“Those were some of the things he talked about. I thought that it was a great lunch and he hit on the important things that people in this country care about. And we’re looking forward to getting him elected and enacting his agenda as quickly as possible once he gets sworn in.”