Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown said he would meet with President Trump during the president’s visit to Dayton, Ohio, reversing his decision from a day earlier.
“I spent much of yesterday wrestling with the right thing to do when President Trump visits Dayton today. I decided I have a responsibility to Ohioans to use this opportunity to look the president in the eye and urge him to do the right thing,” Brown said in a statement.
Trump and first lady Melania Trump are visiting survivors of a mass shooting that left nine people dead.
Brown said Tuesday he would not join Trump.
“I don’t have any interest because of what he’s done on this, total unwillingness to address the issue of guns, his racist rhetoric,” Brown told Sirius XM host Joe Madison. “I don’t know what he’s going to say and do there. I mean, I welcome him to the state in some sense, but not about this.”
Before departing for Ohio, Trump told reporters he hopes to persuade Congress “to do things they don’t want to do” on gun control.
“You have a lot of people on one side and a lot of people on the other,” he said. “I have a lot of influence with a lot of people; I want to convince them to do the right thing.”
