A Republican senator who attended Wednesday’s closed-door lunch with President Donald Trump recalled the discussion that reportedly led to yelling.
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) told Semafor the exchange was memorable — and not in a good way.
“It was not a good discussion,” Marshall said. “Sometimes two guys just have to get it off their chest.”
The “two guys” were Trump and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) — one of two incumbents Trump helped oust in a primary, who had voted just one day earlier to rebuke the president’s handling of the Iran war.
Cassidy told Trump that “our original objectives have not been achieved, and I want to know what’s going on” — and that he would keep voting to limit Trump’s war powers “until I get a briefing,” CNN reported.
Trump didn’t take it well.
“At which point, as I recall, he did not particularly care for my comments,” Cassidy said. “Raised his voice. I lost my temper. That’s not appropriate. It’s the Irish in me. But I, again, matched his tone and his volume.”
CNN also reported Cassidy was shouting and called Trump his “brother.” Trump told him he wasn’t his “brother.” Cassidy eventually sat down.
Reporters were getting the blow-by-blow in real time. Semafor congressional reporter Burgess Everett posted from a source still inside: “The Senate GOP meeting with Trump is not going well. ‘A total cluster f—,’ one person said.”
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), another incumbent ousted by a Trump-backed challenger, was dry on the way out.
“Quite the unity message,” he quipped.
Trump told reporters afterward it had been a “great meeting” with a “really well-unified party” — while conceding he didn’t like some of the people in the room.
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