Bill Cassidy

WASHINGTON – Hours after an angry encounter with President Donald Trump over his vote directing an end of hostilities in Iran, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy changed his position on the issue, voting against advancing another resolution urging an end to the war.

Cassidy on Tuesday joined three other Republicans and Democrats in passing a symbolic resolution urging the president to withdraw troops. Then, on Wednesday, Cassidy had a shouting match with Trump about that vote during a closed-door meeting at the Capitol.

The Baton Rouge Republican said he told the president that the U.S. bombed Iran to change the theocracy running the country, eliminate the ability for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, disable Iran’s military, and end hostilities in about four weeks. None of those goals were accomplished and Trump had failed to explain clearly what was going to happen, Cassidy said.

After the meeting, Cassidy met with Vice President JD Vance and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff on where peace talks stand, the senator said. Cassidy then flipped his vote later in the evening on a separate but similar resolution.

“I want to thank Vice President Vance and Special Envoy Witkoff for the thorough briefing this afternoon on Iran. I appreciate the quick invitation to the White House to address many of my concerns,” Cassidy wrote on X after the vote.

The resolution on Wednesday night was a different but nearly identical instrument to the one passed Tuesday’s that asks Trump to remove troops until Congress votes on whether to authorize military action. Cassidy voted in favor of Tuesday’s resolution, but on Wednesday voted against the similar measure.