Trump vows 'transition to greatness' in meeting with GOP lawmakers on coronavirus recovery

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President Trump meets with Republican members of Congress

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President Trump vowed a “transition to greatness” as the country begins to rebuild its economy after the coronavirus lockdowns during a meeting with Republican lawmakers at the White House on Friday.

The president, joined by a number of congressional Republicans, discussed the future of the economy, insisting it would recover in just a matter of months.

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“We’re going into transition,” Trump said at the beginning of the meeting. “I call it transition to greatness. It’s going to be a transition to greatness, because we’re going to do something very fast and we’re going to have a phenomenal year next year.”

The president said that the “third quarter” would be a “transition,” and that the “fourth quarter is going to be good.”

“There’s tremendous pent up demand,” Trump continued. “And next year, we’re going to have a phenomenal year.”

Congressional Republicans were invited to the White House Friday to discuss potential next step economic measures amid the coronavirus pandemic, as states across the nation begin to lift stay-at-home orders and soften social distancing guidelines.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Reps. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, spoke at the beginning of the meeting. Also invited to the White House were Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Devin Nunes, R-Calif., Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., among others.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, senior adviser Jared Kushner and economic adviser Larry Kudlow, Director of the Economic Council Dan Scavino, and others were also present for the meeting.

The president also hinted that politics were at play, with regard to states lifting their orders and returning to work.

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“You see what’s going on at statehouses all over the country,” Trump said, with regard to protests over stay-at-home orders. “They want to come back. Some people don’t for political reasons—which is sick—but the real people that want this country to be great again, they want to get back.”

The president went on to tout his administration’s response throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We have to start all over again,” Trump said of the economy. “And we will...and we'll build something that was even better than we had before.”

The president recognized that “so many people, so many people have died.”

“That’s the one thing we can’t do anything about, unfortunately.”

As of Friday, the U.S. reported more than 1.2 million positive cases of COVID-19 and more than 76,000 deaths.