By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-06-24 20:00:35 | Updated at 2026-06-24 20:46:40
49 minutes ago
Donald Trump had an explosive argument with Republican senators during a private meeting in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday over limitations on his powers to direct the war with Iran.
The Republican-controlled Senate passed bipartisan legislation ordering Trump to end the war with Iran or seek congressional approval to continue it. Their move marks the most significant Republican rebuke of the President to date, and a sign of the widening rift between him and his party.
Trump met privately with the entire Republican Senate majority behind closed doors on Capitol Hill, demanding to know why they had decided to limit his power to wage war.
Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana attempted to explain their rationale, but the President immediately resorted to personal insults. Cassidy is one of the four Republican senators, including Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Rand Paul, who joined Democrats in the war powers vote.
'He [Trump] was asking why anybody would vote for the power's accident. I said, "Is that a rhetorical question, or do you want to know?" He goes, "I want to know."' Cassidy told the Daily Mail. Another source claimed that one point the GOP senator was 'yelling' at the President.
'And I said, "Well, we've not been briefed on how it's going, that the stated objectives don't appear to be achieved, and it appears...that it's not going as well as we're being told,"' Cassidy recalled.
Trump responded by stating 'something negative' about the GOP senator who perceived it as the President's attempt to bully him.
Cassidy's willingness to defy the President comes at little political cost. He lost his own Republican primary in May, and will leave the Senate in January, making him the first elected incumbent senator to lose a primary since 2012.
The Republican-controlled Senate passed bipartisan legislation ordering Trump to end the war with Iran or seek congressional approval to continue it
Trump met privately with the entire Republican Senate majority behind-closed doors on Capitol Hill to discuss why they had decided to vote to limits his power to wage war
Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana attempted to explain their rationale, but the President immediately resorted to personal insults
'I'm not going to be bullied when I feel like I'm asking a question the American people need to know. And so, at that point, it began to escalate,' Cassidy told the Daily Mail.
