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Two meetings will take place in Washington today that will both have the attention of President Trump, as he continues to strong-arm two groups that have put his second term agenda on shaky ground: House Republicans and South American drug cartels. The Republicans have staged a mini-government shutdown, as they want an election integrity bill included with recent government funding. The Colombian cocaine cartels, meanwhile, are hoping to avoid the same fate that fell upon supposed Venezuelan drug smugglers in recent months. Jon Decker is the WOR White House correspondent and host of the podcast “The White House Briefing Room;” he appeared on 710 WOR’s Mendte in the Morning program to offer the latest on the two big events that Trump will have an eye on today.
Decker told host Larry Mendte that Trump is confident that House Republicans will fall in line and end the mini-government shutdown in its tracks: “He believes that when the vote takes place in the House today, House Republicans will be unified in terms of reopening the government, and you’re going to need pretty much every Republican. There will be a few Democrats that vote to essentially end this partial government shutdown, but it’s a very narrow majority… but the President says he’s twisting arms, the House Speaker says he’s twisting arms and that’s the reason why they feel confident that the funding legislation which passed the Senate on Friday will pass the House today.”
Meanwhile, Trump will be meeting Colombian President Gustavo Petro at the White House, where Decker says he will try to wring a guarantee from Colombian officials to tamp down on the flow of cocaine into the United States: “We know from the defense minister who has come to Washington… the message that will be delivered by the President of Colombia, and that is [that] they are cracking down in terms of the cocaine cartels that operate in Colombia. They are working to make certain that the volume of illegal drugs coming into the U.S. drops precipitously, and so I think that’s what you’re going to hear.”
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