WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado and five other congressional Republicans are dining Tuesday night at the White House, where President Donald Trump is expected to discuss his first trip overseas as chief executive and other foreign policy matters.
The get-together will give Trump an opportunity to debrief lawmakers on his nine-day, five-country tour that included a royal welcome in Saudi Arabia, a sitdown with Pope Francis at the Vatican and often-tense meetings with other NATO leaders in Brussels, Belgium.
The dinner also will provide a platform for Gardner to talk about his own overseas travels, including a controversial meeting with Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte and conferences with other officials that Gardner said included a discussion of Duterte’s brutal crackdown on drug dealers and users.
The campaign has cost the lives of thousands of Filipinos and alarmed human-rights activists, but Trump has praised that bloody approach and invited Duterte to the White House.
Gardner said last week he was “very concerned about the extrajudicial killings.”
In a pre-dinner interview Tuesday with The Denver Post, Gardner added that Trump did not ask him to convey a message to Duterte nor has the administration talked to him about the trip to the Philippines since his return.
“This will be the first opportunity I will have to share,” he said.
Asked whether he would recommend to Trump that he take additional steps to pressure Duterte to refrain from further violence, Gardner said only that he expected the White House to keep talking about it.
“The United States will continue to — in every form possible — bring up the issue of human rights, rule of law issues, accountability and investigations,” Gardner said.
When pressed if there was anything more that could be done, Gardner noted a past move by the Obama administration to divert money from drug enforcement by the national Filipino police force.
Gardner said he also plans to tell Trump at the dinner about a new bill he’s writing called the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act. He said the legislation, due out this summer, would update U.S. foreign policy, including national security goals, in the region.
Economically, Gardner said it would take “broad concepts” from the failed Trans-Pacific Partnership initiative pushed by former President Barack Obama. It also would bolster efforts to combat terrorism while promoting human rights.
“What I feel that we have lacked, as it relates to Asia, is a long-term, 40-year strategy,” said Gardner, who chairs a foreign relations subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific region. “We really want this to be a keystone effort when it comes to Asia strategy.”
One possible point of contention at Tuesday’s dinner are U.S. obligations to NATO. Trump made waves last month in a speech before group leaders when he did not explicitly reaffirm a U.S. commitment to back NATO allies if they are attacked. Gardner said he would insist Trump make that public commitment “unequivocal.”
“Our allies need certainty when it comes to U.S. leadership and presence,” he said. Gardner did add, however, that met Tuesday with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Capitol Hill and that Stoltenberg told him that he had no concerns about Trump’s commitment to NATO, a longstanding foil of Russia.
Scheduled to appear with Gardner at the White House: U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida — who Gardner initially supported for president — and U.S. Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Todd Young of Indiana and U.S. Reps. Francis Rooney of Florida and Lee Zeldin of New York.
The menu includes 10-herb ravioli, lemon ricotta and American wagyu beef tenderloin.
