A heated confrontation between President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans over Iran policy upended a war powers vote Wednesday, with two GOP senators reversing course within hours of a contentious closed-door meeting at the Capitol.
Senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Rand Paul of Kentucky had initially voted to advance a resolution that would force Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from Iran unless Congress explicitly authorized continued military action. But after a shouting match with the president during a lunch meeting, both senators backed away from their support, tanking the measure 47-50-1 in a late-night vote.
Cassidy was candid about the encounter. He told reporters he stood up and "lost my temper" over what he characterized as a lack of transparency from the administration regarding Iran operations. The senator said the conflict "was supposed to last four weeks. It's lasted four months. Our original objectives have not been achieved, and I want to know what's going on."
Trump responded by raising his voice as well, Cassidy recounted. When pressed on whether the president had called him a "lunatic," Cassidy declined to deny it directly, instead saying: "Can I imagine that the president called me things that would be said on the school on the playground? Yeah, I can imagine that."
The lunch was supposed to focus on a major housing bill and the SAVE America Act, but Trump pivoted the conversation to the election bill and the Iran conflict. The abrupt subject shift set off the exchange with Cassidy, who had been defeated by a Trump-backed challenger in recent elections.
Trump minimized the discord on his way out of the building. "We had a really great meeting," he told reporters. "We like everyone in the room. I don't like a few people, but that's OK."
The reversal hinged on a White House briefing. Cassidy received a private session with Vice President JD Vance and special envoy Steve Witkoff before the vote, telling colleagues it addressed "many of my concerns." He voted no shortly after returning to Capitol Hill. Paul cast a present vote instead of supporting the resolution, citing a desire to "give the President more space and leverage to negotiate a lasting peace."
Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, who introduced the resolution, condemned the outcome. "Trump had tried to browbeat Republican senators for upholding their oaths of office," Kaine said in a statement. He characterized the failed vote as meaningless theater, noting that a separate war powers resolution remains pending before the Senate that reflects Congress's position that further conflict with Iran requires explicit legislative approval.
The Senate is now heading into a two-week recess, leaving the broader question of congressional war powers authority unresolved.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "The backroom pressure worked, but it exposed a raw fissure between Trump and his own party on military restraint that won't disappear over a two-week break."
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