Gov. Cox meets with President-elect Trump at Mar-a-Lago

SALT LAKE CITY — Gov. Spencer Cox is on his way back to Utah after meeting with President-elect Donald Trump in Florida.

The meeting Thursday evening at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach included about 25 Republican governors, Cox told KSL TV. The governor described it as a “free-flowing Q&A dinner” that lasted more than two hours.

“I specifically asked about last-minute decisions being made by the Biden administration that are clearly political and hurting Utah and other states,” Cox said. “The President-elect responded that they are watching closely and will be supportive of unwinding those decisions.”

Cox asked about the recent decision to reverse approval of the Northern Corridor, a planned highway in southern Utah, his office said. President Biden has also been in the spotlight this week for moving ahead to “ban new offshore oil and gas drilling in most U.S. coastal waters,” the Associated Press reported.

The dinner with GOP governors came less than two weeks until Trump’s inauguration after he won the presidential race in November, becoming the first president since Grover Cleveland to be elected in non-consecutive terms.

It also came one day before Trump was formally sentenced by a New York judge in a criminal hush money case. Justice Juan Merchan did not sentence Trump to any jail time or impose a fine, but a judgment of guilt will remain on Trump’s record, Reuters reported. With that, Trump will be the first convicted felon in the country’s history to be inaugurated as president.

Before the sentencing, Trump called the case a “political witch hunt” and maintained his innocence. Cox did not respond to a question about his thoughts on the outcome of Trump’s criminal case.

For his part, Cox was not a Trump supporter until this past summer. He was often critical of the celebrity businessman and did not vote for him in 2016 or 2020. Cox also called for Trump to be held accountable for his role in the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

However, following the attempted assassination of then-candidate Trump at a Pennsylvania rally, Cox wrote to the former president and pledged his support in the November election.

“Your life was spared,” Cox wrote in the July 14 letter. “Now, because of that miracle, you have the opportunity to do something that no other person on earth can do right now: unify and save our country.”

At Thursday’s dinner, Cox said he and the other Republican governors were optimistic about the future.

“Many of them were governors during his first administration and have seen the contrast,” Cox said. “Every person in attendance is excited to have a partner in the White House that understands the power of federalism and the importance of empowering the states.”

Cox was sworn in this week to his second term as Utah’s governor. He has repeatedly said this term will be his last, and he will not run for re-election.