Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said he won’t “be bullied into silence” after a fight between the senator and President Donald Trump.
The shouting match during a meeting at the Capitol Wednesday when they clashed heatedly over Cassidy’s vote for a resolution to curtail Trump’s authority as commander-in-chief.
“I’m not going to be bullied when I’m trying to get answers for the American people. This is not about me, it’s not about the president,” Cassidy told ABC News’s Rachel Scott. “It’s about the American people knowing what’s going on.”
“I’m not going to be bullied into silence when I’m sticking up for the American people,” he added.
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Cassidy spoke after he and Trump argued in the Mansfield Room just off the Senate floor on Wednesday.
Trump berated him and Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) over their votes for a House-approved War Powers resolution directing Trump to withdraw U.S. forces Iran.
Cassidy recently lost his reelection bid to a candidate supported by Trump.
Cassidy told Trump he had not provided enough information to the Senate and the American people about the conflict. Trump initially said it would last four to five weeks.
Cassidy then received a briefing on Iran from Vice President JD Vance and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff at the Whote House.
The two are leading negotiations on a deal to end Iran’s nuclear program.
Later Wednesday, Cassidy voted against a motion to proceed to another War Powers resolution sponsored by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.).
Cassidy told reporters he voted against Kaine’s measure because he received the information he wanted from Vance and Witkoff.
Paul also changed his vote on the resolution, voting “present” instead of “yes.”
“My opinion on the debate over war and executive power has not changed and I have voted that way several times,” he wrote on X. “But since hostilities seem to be over and the President asked me to give consideration to his negotiating position, I will do so.”
“My vote of present is a way to give the President more space and leverage to negotiate a lasting peace,” Paul wrote.
Kaine’s War Powers resolution failed to advance 47 to 50 Wednesday evening.