DENVER — Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert is set to meet with former President Donald Trump next month, the first-term Republican lawmaker said.
“I remain close with President Trump. And I guess not ‘remain’ — so I’ve always been close with him in my heart, but now I am close with him, which is really nice. I’ll be going back out and seeing him again in July,” Boebert told the Washington Examiner in an interview before she spoke at the Western Conservative Summit on Saturday. “He’s still fighting harder than ever for America.”
Asked about the reason for going to see Trump, Boebert declined to elaborate, saying it is “just a meeting.”
But she ruled out the possibility that it is to discuss running for higher office. “No, no, no,” she said, adding that she’s focused on “where I’m at right now.”
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The planned meeting signals Trump’s continued influence in the confrontational conservative wing of the Republican Party. A staunch Trump supporter and political firebrand, Boebert first met the former president in person at a 2020 Independence Day event in South Dakota, and she has since traveled to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in South Florida for various fundraisers and events.
Boebert’s fiery political style draws the ire of Democrats and makes her the target of confrontational anarchist activists (who should “get a job,” she said).
Most recently, she faced backlash for voting against a bill to give gold medals to U.S. Capitol Police officers who were injured in the Jan. 6 riot. Uniformed Capitol Police officers showed up at her congressional office to demand an explanation, she said.
She explained that she voted against the bill because Democrats added a reference to officer Billy Evans, who was killed on April 2 after being rammed by a car driven by a suspected Nation of Islam follower, which had nothing to do with Jan. 6. And she noted that she voted in favor of the gold medal legislation before Evans was added.
“Make something else for him,” Boebert said. “Why are we drumming this up more and more? And that’s all they want,” Boebert said. “If you turn on CNN, all you see is Jan. 6. You don’t see what’s happening in Portland. You don’t see what’s happening in Seattle.”
But many attacks haven’t stuck. Last week, the House Ethics Committee cleared Boebert of allegations that she helped instigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
And Boebert’s votes do not always align with what most frustrates the Left. For example, last week she voted in favor of making Juneteenth a national holiday while 14 other Republicans voted against it.
“I voted for it because, I mean, I like freedom,” Boebert said. “We’re not replacing Independence Day with it.” But she added that she did not like the bill’s rushed process and that it passed the Senate by unanimous consent.
A member of the House Freedom Caucus, Boebert said that she has particularly connected with its chairman, Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, calling him “my absolute favorite.”
“He’s been a mentor. I have a few other members of Congress who come to me and say, ‘Hey I’m supposed to be your mentor.’ I’m like, ‘That’s adorable. Biggs already is.”
She also speaks with Rep. Jim Jordan regularly, as well as Rep. Thomas Massie, her co-chair for the Second Amendment Caucus. She has worked with former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows at the Conservative Partnership Institute, calling Meadows and his wife Debbie “always someone that I can go to.”
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When New York Rep. Elise Stefanik replaced Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney as chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, Boebert was skeptical that her voting record would match her conservative rhetoric. Asked what she thinks of how Stefanik has done as chairwoman so far, Boebert didn’t have much to say. “She’s third in power of the party that has no power.”
Boebert says she is not intimidated by backlash to her political positions and style.
“Coming home every weekend and seeing the support that is not only still here, but is growing — I mean, that keeps me motivated to be in this and to not give up,” she said.
“Being a mom of four boys and a restaurant owner, I’ve spent a lot of my life taking chaotic and dysfunctional situations and making order out of them,” Boebert said. “So Congress is right up my alley.”
