A lunch meeting President Donald Trump had with Republican senators reportedly turned into a shouting match with Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., over the war in Iran.
The meeting started, Axios reported, with Trump calling out four Republican senators who voted with Democrats on Tuesday to approve a House-led war powers resolution limiting the president’s ability to conduct military operations in Iran without Congressional approval.
Cassidy responded to Trump by saying, “You have not told the American people what’s going on. It was supposed to last four weeks. It’s lasted four months.” Trump proceeded to talk about Cassidy’s loss in the Louisiana Senate primary, and called him a “lunatic.”
Afterward, Cassidy told reporters that he’s not going to put up with someone trying to “bully” him because he’s “sticking up for my people.”
Following this, Cassidy was given a private briefing before a vote on a separate war powers resolution. This briefing, he said, addressed many of his concerns, according to NBC News. Cassidy ultimately voted no on a separate war powers resolution Wednesday sponsored by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and it failed to pass by 47-50-1.
Kaine said Republicans agreed to defeat his motion to “appease [Trump’s] temper tantrum.”
“The vote is of no consequence and does not undo the expressed position of Congress that further war against Iran is illegal unless Congress votes for it,” Kaine said.
