'I'm not going to be bullied': Bill Cassidy shares details of disagreement with Donald Trump

Republican Senator Bill Cassidy said that he was not going to be bullied when he was seeking answers for the American people, as he explained the details of his bust-up with U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump met with Republican senators on Capitol Hill on Tuesday after he canceled the signing of a bipartisan housing bill. During the meeting, however, the President expressed his disappointment with the War Powers resolution passed by Congress, which led to the spat with Cassidy.

Speaking to reporters, Cassidy said that President Trump did not care about concerns regarding the war in Iran and kept on interrupting him as he spoke. "I did not care to be interrupted," the Louisiana Senator said. "I felt like I was trying to get answers for the American people, and I am not going to be bullied when I am trying to get answers for the American people. And so, it escalated from there. At some point, it de-escalated." Cassidy was also asked whether it was true that the President called him a lunatic. "Can I imagine the President calling me things that would be said on a school playground? Yeah, I can imagine that," he answered. The senator had voted for the War Powers resolution and said that he did not rule out changing his vote.

In a separate interview, Cassidy accused Trump of not being transparent about the situation with Iran, being involved in the conflict much longer than he had said previously, and not being able to achieve his original objectives. "You have not told the American people what's going on. It was supposed to last for four weeks; it's lasted four months. Our original objectives have not been achieved. And I want to know what's going on. He did not particularly care for my comments, raised his voice, and I lost my temper. That's not appropriate," he said.

After the meeting, Trump said that he was proud of the party, but there were some inside the GOP that he did not like very much, without revealing any names. "I think we had a great meeting, and we are very proud of the party. We like our leader. We like everybody, really, in the room. I don't like a few people, but that's okay. I think you know who they are. I'll give you that information someday. But for the most part, we have a really well-unified party," he said.

Cassidy was then invited for a briefing about the Iran situation in the White House Situation Room on Wednesday by Vice President J.D. Vance and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, which led to him changing his vote about the resolution. The Louisiana Senator said that he voted for the resolution because the Senate was not being briefed on the situation. He said that he had passed a note to Witkoff after his altercation with Trump, claiming that he would consider changing his vote if he was briefed about the Iran war.