Senate GOP vulnerables skipping Trump meeting

Some of the most vulnerable Senate Republicans facing reelection this fall could be missing from Donald Trump’s meeting with the Senate GOP on Thursday.

Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) won’t be at the meeting because of a conflicting Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. 

{mosads}”I’m chairman of the Armed Services Committee,” McCain told reporters. “We scheduled this hearing a couple of months ago. So I can’t just walk out of there.” 
 
Ayotte told The Wall Street Journal that the committee meeting would also keep her from attending the closed-door meeting with Trump at the National Republican Senatorial Committee. 
 
Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), widely considered the Senate’s most vulnerable Republican incumbent, also won’t be at the sit-down, according to The Huffington Post. 
 
Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) also sidestepped committing to the meeting.
 
Thursday’s meeting comes ahead of the GOP convention in Cleveland, which many Republican senators have said they will skip. 
 
Asked if he would attend the Thursday meeting with Trump, Toomey told reporters he would need to check his schedule. 
 
Portman also said Wednesday that he needs to check and see if he has any previously scheduled events, NBC News reported.
 
Rubio, who reversed course and announced late last month that he would run for reelection, said he is scheduled to preside over the Senate.
 
“I’ve got to be in the chair at the same time presiding over the Senate in my regular time, but I’m obviously, of all the people in that room, other than Ted Cruz, I’m quite familiar with his positions on a number of issues,” Rubio told reporters. 
 
Paul, asked if he would attend, said he was largely unfamiliar with the meeting. 
 
Rubio, Toomey, Portman, Kirk and Ayotte each face tough reelection bids in states previously carried by President Obama. 
 
Democrats have raced to link them to Trump, arguing his controversial comments will drag down vulnerable GOP lawmakers.
 
Republicans are defending 24 Senate seats in November. Democrats need to flip five seats — or flip four and retain the White House — to win back control of the Senate.
 
–Julian Hattem contributed
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