Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump requested a meeting, which will be held in the next week or so, with Charles Koch, according to USA Today.
“We are happy to talk to anybody and hope they understand where we’re coming from, and they will have more constructive positions than they’ve had,” Koch stated about meeting with Trump’s campaign. However, Koch remains critical of Trump’s tone and policy.
Trump’s spokesperson Hope Hicks confirmed that the meeting would happen “in the next week or so and we look forward to identifying areas of common ground.”
Koch Industries’ spokesperson Steve Lombardo said Trump’s team initiated the meeting “a couple weeks ago.”
“Koch said Mark Holden, Koch Industries’ general counsel and chairman of the network’s umbrella group, Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, would participate in the meeting,” USA Today notes.
The fact that Trump’s team initiated the meeting is unique because the billionaire had previously been critical of Charles Koch as well as his brother, David Koch, who held a fundraiser with Trump’s GOP primary rivals as Trump funded his own primary campaign.
“I wish good luck to all of the Republican candidates that traveled to California to beg for money etc. from the Koch Brothers,” Trump posted on Twitter at the time. “Puppets?”