WASHINGTON – Two Republican senators have reversed their position on Donald Trump’s military power in Iran, hours after lawmakers and the president spoke out on Capitol Hill.
Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana switched their votes in Congress late on June 24, with both posting on social media that they had changed their minds after meeting with Mr. Trump himself and members of his administration.
The vote was largely symbolic, but it appears to have appeased the president. Earlier in the day, the president canceled a signing ceremony for a bipartisan housing bill to pressure the Senate to pass an unrelated election law bill.
A subsequent meeting with Senate Republicans largely focused on the Iran war. This includes how the Senate earlier passed another resolution condemning President Trump’s Iran war on June 23rd. Four Republicans, including Paul and Cassidy, sided with Democrats in this vote.
Cassidy then had a heated exchange with Trump over the war during a private sit-in. He told reporters he felt angry. Vice President J.D. Vance and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff then invited Mr. Cassidy to the White House, and the senator said he had addressed many of Mr. Cassidy’s concerns before switching his vote.
“As long as I’m comfortable that there’s integrity and that the portrayal of events is unfolding appropriately, I’m comfortable,” Cassidy told reporters outside the Senate chamber, chalking up all the drama of the day to simply “another day on the hill.”
“My views on the debate over war and executive power have not changed,” Paul wrote on social media before the June 24 vote. “But hostilities appear to have ended and the president has asked me to consider a negotiating position, so I intend to do so,” he said.
President Trump congratulated the changes in a phone call with Senate Republican leaders shortly after the vote.
“Wow! The Senate just changed its vote on Iran from 50-48 no to 50-47 yes,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Rand Paul and Bill Cassidy have changed. Thank you, Party Leader John Thune, Lindsey Graham, Bernie Moreno, and all of you. This vote puts Iran in the spotlight!”
The Senate will go into a two-week recess starting July 4, after which Senate Minority Leader Thune (R-South Dakota) said he wants to “get things ready and ready” for several other priorities, including an annual defense policy bill.
Contributor: Zachary Schermele, america today
