Sen. Mike Lee attends El Salvador president’s inauguration

Several Republican lawmakers, including Utah Sen. Mike Lee, traveled to El Salvador Saturday to participate in President Nayib Bukele’s inauguration. Bukele is now serving a second five-year term.

The ceremony came a day after Trump was convicted in New York City on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a criminal trial. Lee, who traveled to celebrate Bukele’s second term, in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, said, “I’m in El Salvador. To my knowledge, no public official here is trying to jail his political opponent.”

In another post, Lee said Bukele defeated Manuel Flores, his primary opponent, in the February presidential election with more than 80% of the vote. “To the best of my knowledge, Bukele made no attempt to imprison Flores,” he said, pushing back on the verdict against Trump.

Lee and his wife, Sharon Lee, were photographed in El Salvador with Donald Trump Jr., Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson and others. Gaetz later said it was an honor to attend the ceremony, adding that Bukele is “the most inspirational head of state in the Western Hemisphere by far.”

At the event, Lee took a selfie with Fox News reporter Sara A. Carter and her husband Martin Bailey, a retired Army veteran. Carter posted the photo and said no one made her and her husband laugh more than Lee. “Great senator and all around great guy,” she added.

That wasn’t the only selfie Lee took. In another photo post, capturing himself standing next to his wife and Bukele, Lee wrote, “Thank you, President Bukele, for a delightful afternoon and an engaging conversation.”

“Sharon and I enjoyed every minute of our time with you, and of our visit to your beautiful country.”

During his initial campaign for president, Bukele promised to end gang violence in a country considered one of the most dangerous in the world. He managed to crack down on criminal activity during his first term in office.

“We conquered fear, and today are truly a free nation,” Bukele said in a speech Saturday from the balcony of the National Palace after being sworn in.

The event, hosted in the capital city of San Salvador, included top foreign leaders like Spanish King Felipe VI and presidents Javier Milei of Argentina, Xiomara Castro of Honduras, Daniel Noboa of Ecuador, Santiago Peña of Paraguay and Rodrigo Chaves Robles of Costa Rica.

While former President Trump was not present, his son attended and posted a video of being escorted to the inauguration ceremony by the El Salvadorian police. “Pretty solid way to travel,” he said in the TikTok clip. “Just promoting those who support freedom around the world.”

Some journalists have compared Trump’s governing style and rhetoric with Bukele. Foreign Policy referred to Bukele as “El Salvador’s Trump” and the Jacobin called him “the Donald Trump of Central America.” While Trump had a formal meeting with the El Salvadorian president, President Joe Biden has so far not met with him.

As The Associated Press reported, the White House is trying to change this. Although Biden wasn’t at the inauguration, he sent Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and a high-level delegation. Their talks “focused on enhancing the rule-of-law to ensure sustainable security for Salvadorans, strengthening enforcement actions against narcotics trafficking, and advancing effective migration management,” according to a press release. Bukele and Mayorkas said the two countries will continue to work on “reducing irregular migration flows through increased enforcement and strengthened visa regimes.”