US: Trump feuds with Senators after rare Iran war rebuke
US President Donald Trump abruptly canceled a housing bill signing ceremony and clashed with certain Senators after a rare motion seeking to rein in his
US President Donald Trump abruptly canceled a housing bill signing ceremony and clashed with certain Senators after a rare motion seeking to rein in his war with Iran. The Senate passed a new motion following the feud. US President Donald Trump clashed with members of the Senate on Wednesday after Congress had passed a largely symbolic resolution urging him to bring the conflict with Iran to an end. Trump canceled what was supposed to be a signing ceremony celebrating new housing legislation aiming to please voters in the run-up to November's mid term elections. He said he would not sign the bill, which Republicans had hailed in both houses of Congress, until they passed his voting reform package he calls the "Save America Act." "Today's Housing News Conference and Signing is hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a Emergency," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. The act includes plans to proof of citizenship to register to vote, and photo ID when voting. Democrats criticize it as an assault on voting rights, Trump argues it's necessary to safeguard elections. Trump, and rebel Senator report clash over Iran war Although Trump portrayed his trip to Capitol Hill on Wednesday as tied to a pair of domestic policies, it also followed immediately after Senators narrowly passed a so-called War Powers Resolution urging Trump to "remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities with Iran." Four Republicans had joined Democrats in approving the motion, which had already cleared the House, where more Republicans openly question the conflict.
One rebel Republican, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, told reporters that he had clashed with Trump in a closed-door meeting. "I stood and said, 'You have not told the American people what's going on. It was supposed to last four weeks; it's lasted four months. Our original objectives have not been achieved and I want to know what's going on,'" Cassidy told reporters after the meeting. Cassidy already knows he will not run for re-election as a Republican Senator in November after losing the nomination to a Trump-backed candidate. Trump also appeared to allude to the clash on leaving the meeting, telling reporters: "I don't like a few people, but that's okay -— I think you know who they are." After Trump's angry appearance, Senators subsequently rejected another similar motion by 50 votes to 47, seemingly undermining the previous day's resolution. Technically though, this failed motion does not invalidate the one from a day earlier. Trump celebrated this online, saying that it "puts Iran on notice." Quite what this is supposed to mean given the apparent efforts to negotiate a long-term peace is open to debate. The US and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February started a broader regional war involving Lebanon and Gulf states Image: Marwan Naamani/ZUMA/picture alliance What had led to this? The US Senate resolution passed on Tuesday directing Trump to end US military action against Iranwas a rare bipartisan rebuke of the White House as it pursues a diplomatic deal with Tehran.
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