Trump berates Cassidy, Republicans after Senate rebuke on Iran war powers

Donald Trump lashed out at Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana during a closed-door lunch with Senate Republicans at the Capitol on Wednesday, turning the meeting into a shouting match. Cassidy later said, “I lost my temper.”

The confrontation came one day after the Senate approved a war powers resolution by a 50-48 vote directing the president to remove U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities against Iran unless Congress authorizes the conflict. Four Republicans, Cassidy, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Rand Paul of Kentucky, voted with nearly all Democrats; John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only Democrat to vote no. The White House dismissed the vote as having “no significance” and argued that hostilities had ended with a ceasefire on April 7, 2026.

The vote was the first time the Senate had approved a measure aimed at the Iran conflict after seven failed attempts to advance similar war powers resolutions. Cassidy’s break with Trump carried added political weight because it came after his loss in the Louisiana GOP Senate primary runoff, when Trump backed one of Cassidy’s opponents. In the days before the lunch, Cassidy had already called Trump’s Iran framework the “worst foreign policy blunder in decades,” saying it would give Tehran sanctions relief and more leverage without real concessions.

Other Senate Republicans raised similar alarms over the emerging U.S.-Iran deal, warning that it could hand Iran billions of dollars in economic relief while leaving its nuclear and missile programs too weakly constrained. Lawmakers were also pressing for the text of the agreement and a formal briefing from the administration, which Senate Majority Leader John Thune had requested.