GOP senators give Trump standing ovation

President Trump received a standing ovation Tuesday when he walked into a lunch meeting of the Senate Republican Conference to take a victory lap after special counsel Robert Mueller did not find evidence of collusion in the 2016 election.

Trump seemed almost giddy as he spoke to Republican senators in the Mansfield Room just off the Senate floor, according to GOP lawmakers who said Trump claimed the Mueller report gave him a “clean bill of health” after two years of speculation that it could lead to impeachment.

{mosads}The president thanked Senate Republicans for sticking by his side for almost “two years” of the special counsel’s investigation and Democrats “dragging our party and the presidency through the mud on a hoax,” according to Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.).

“He appreciated that we stood with him, and he said it can never happen again,” Cramer added. “The words he used is ‘clean bill of health,’ referencing Mueller.”

Trump appeared to have an extra bounce in his step and called out almost all the senators in the room by name, according to lawmakers who attended the meeting.

“He was in good spirits,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Trump received a “prolonged standing ovation” when he walked in the room. 

And Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), who hosted the meeting as the Senate Republican Policy Committee chairman, said Mueller’s report effectively exonerated Trump.

“I believe that’s the case,” he said.

The Mueller investigation found no evidence that Trump or his top advisers coordinated with the Russian government to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. The special counsel did not come to any conclusion as to whether the president obstructed justice.

It was a good day for Trump and Senate Republicans, who have had a rocky relationship over the past month. 

There was no talk of the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who became a flashpoint last week after Trump repeatedly criticized him for passing along to the FBI a dossier of damaging allegations against the president.

Trump and Senate Republicans did not discuss the Democratic-sponsored resolution disapproving of his national emergency declaration for a wall along the southern border. Twelve Republicans voted to disapprove of Trump’s action earlier this month.

Cramer said Trump “definitely had a little extra step, a little bounce in his step.”

The president did not urge Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) to investigate possible corruption at the FBI, something he has alleged publicly on several occasions, nor did he say Congress should take a closer look into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, another subject he has harped on in recent months.

“It was more of a thank-you speech,” Cramer said.