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June 13 (UPI) -- Donald Trump met with Republican lawmakers on Thursday to lay out his second-term agenda as the GOP aims to take back the Senate and the White House. The presumptive GOP presidential nominee held a press conference on Capitol Hill with Congressional Republicans, where he affirmed there is "tremendous unity in the Republican Party."
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"We want to see borders. We want to see a strong military. ... We want to see just success for our country, and we don't have success right now," Trump said.
Trump said high inflation and open borders are of "great concern' to Republicans going into the election.
Thursday marked the first time Trump met with GOP leaders since his 34 felony convictions from his New York hush-money trial.
Earlier, Trump met with House Republicans in a closed-door meeting at the Capitol Hill Club.
In the meeting, which comes after the Supreme Court struck down an effort to restrict access to the abortion drug mifepristone, Trump expressed his opinion that abortion access should be decided by the states and that exceptions to restrictions ought to be made in the case of rape, incest or to save the mother's life, according to ABC News.
Trump also told Republicans they could have a 40-seat House majority if they weren't so "afraid" of the issue, ABC News reported.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Trump also had "very complimentary" things to say about House Republican leaders and that he told Johnson he was doing a good job, according to the Hill.
"We have to have continuity in leadership," Johnson said.
Johnson has openly embraced Trump while hardline House Republicans such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., have attempted to oust him over his habit of toeing the line with Democrats to pass controversial spending bills earlier this year.
In the meeting with House lawmakers, Trump reportedly told Greene in a joking manner to be nice to Johnson after her failed attempt to vacate the speaker earlier this year, according to the Hill.
During the meeting, Trump also promised to lean in hard on international trade tariffs because "other countries have taken advantage of the United States, and we have tools [to address it]," Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., told the Hill.
Trump then met with Senate Republicans, some of whom voted to convict him in second impeachment trial in 2021, at the National Republican Senatorial Committee headquarters.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who was one of the seven to vote to convict Trump, shook hands with the former president and told reporters they had a "really positive meeting."
It was the first time the two had met since 2020.
Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who also voted to convict Trump in 2021, did not attend the meeting due to prior conflicts, they said.
Thursday also marked the first time Trump has been near the U.S. Capitol since the Jan. 6 riot in 2021. His meeting with Republicans prompted an advertisement from the Biden-Harris campaign that highlighted footage from the riot and claimed Trump is trying to "burn it all down."
Trump hit back at Democrats, claiming, "They are getting away with murder."
Trump also is scheduled to join over 200 CEOs in a quarterly meeting with of the Business Roundtable in Washington, D.C.
Business Roundtable spokesperson Michael Steel said the group invited both Trump and President Joe Biden to speak, but Biden is currently overseas to attend the G7 Summit. White House chief of staff Jeff Zients is set to appear in his stead.
