Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), the chairman of the Republican Study Committee, is leading 12 members of the largest conservative group in Congress to meet with former President Donald Trump in Bedminster, New Jersey, on Tuesday evening.
The dinner meeting is set to take place just one day after the FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, sparking calls for an investigation into the search from Banks and other prominent Trump allies in Congress.
The gathering was previously scheduled.
Top members of the RSC have met with Trump multiple times since Banks — one of the former president’s most vocal allies in the lower chamber — took the reins of the conservative caucus to discuss its policy agenda and strategy to win back the majority in November.
MCCARTHY CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION INTO GARLAND FOLLOWING FBI RAID OF MAR-A-LAGO
The RSC has met with a slew of prospective 2024 Republican presidential candidates, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), ex-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. Former Vice President Mike Pence was the most recent potential contender to huddle with the group.
The FBI’s unprecedented investigation to obtain documents comes after the National Archives confirmed that 15 boxes of improperly stored presidential records were obtained from Mar-a-Lago earlier this year.
Trump blasted the search, alleging it was politically motivated in an effort to deter him from running in 2024.
“These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents,” he said in the statement Monday.
“Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before. After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate. It is prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024.”
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The FBI’s decision to execute a search warrant has led to speculation that it may motivate the former president to enter the presidential race earlier than expected.
“If he wasn’t running before, he is now,” a person close to the former president told NBC News. “It pisses him off that they can do this to him. One way to get it to stop is to control the government again.”
