Trump recalls how a congressman 'broke my a**' at White House dinner for lawmakers
WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump on Friday, September 5, talked about how a Congressman "broke my a**" while hosting a dinner party at the White House for lawmakers.
The POTUS opened up the newly renovated Rose Garden to guests, including Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Senator James Lankford (R-OK), and other Republican lawmakers, during the dinner.
Trump recalls late-night vote-wrangling for 'big, beautiful bill'
Before the dinner, Donald Trump asked James Lankford to say grace, and the senator obliged. He thanked God for "the food and the privilege to be able to be here together with each other. In the name of Jesus, I ask tonight, amen."
The MAGA leader thanked Lankford and said, "Beautiful. Appreciate it. That was very nice."
The president then shared an anecdote about wrangling votes for his "big, beautiful bill."
"So, getting back to why you got invited. So, I get a call from the speaker and he’d say, Sir, we have 16 hard no’s. It’s four o’clock in the morning, and we have one of many bills, because this happened many times. And it tended to be the same 16, 18, 19 people all the time. Four o’clock, five o’clock in the morning. I call him. I said, 'Jim, how you doing, Jim? Everything ok?'" Trump said.
The POTUS added, "Jim replied, 'Yes, Sir. It’s five o’clock in the morning.'"
Trump asked him, "How you voting for us?" and Jim replied, "Well, what do you think? Tell me, what should I do, Sir?"
The president then added, "And he broke my a**, and they had about 16 others. That doesn’t mean we don’t like them."
Trump hosts first event on newly renovated Rose Garden Patio, teases future gatherings: “We're going to let Democrats come and we're going to let Republicans come, and you're going to mingle." pic.twitter.com/VC4hRhgOky
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 6, 2025
Trump continued, "But we had about 16, 17, or 18 others, and they made life very difficult. But we got them there because we had a period where we had a majority of one. Is that right, Mike? One. We were one heart attack away from losing the House. Think of that."
The 79-year-old did not specify which "Jim" in the House of Representatives "broke his a**."
During his remarks, he praised House Speaker Mike Johnson, saying he would go down as one of the greatest in history.
Trump's political advisors push for 'big, beautiful bill' rebrand
Donald Trump’s political advisors met with House Republicans on Wednesday to offer a "clear and simple" message to sell the GOP’s sweeping domestic policy package.
Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio, senior political aide James Blair, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt pitched the strategy as part of an ongoing effort by Trump and his team to rebrand the massive tax cuts and spending measure, which polling shows remains unpopular with many Americans.
National Republican Congressional Committee chair Richard Hudson of North Carolina told Fox News, "The best marketer out there is our President."
Hudson added that Trump "used the name One Big Beautiful Bill to help get it passed. And now, to try and explain to the American people, he’s suggesting we call it the Working Families Tax Cut, which is exactly what it is. It’s a big component of it."
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee pushed back, saying the GOP’s rebrand amounted to "an admission that the so-called Big, Ugly Law is a toxic failure."
