'Mad As A Murder Hornet' Trump Squabbles With Disaffected Senate

Tensions between Donald Trump and US Senate Republicans crescendoed to a fever-pitch during a Wednesday lunch after a 24-hour exchange that saw lawmakers rebuke the president over the war with Iran while he abruptly canceled a signing ceremony for legislation that the GOP sees as essential to its midterm election efforts. 

Trump refused to sign a bipartisan housing bill before attending a private luncheon with lawmakers at the US Capitol. A day earlier, as Trump was holding a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, the Republican-led Senate for the first time passed a largely symbolic measure to curb his ability to wage war with Iran. 

US Senator John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, told reporters that Trump was "mad as a murder hornet" at the war powers vote because it undermined his ongoing negotiations with Iran.

Kennedy joked it was a successful meeting in that people got to get things off their chests - at least the president did - and nobody got stabbed. He added he was a little nervous that they had set out their usual metal utensils for the lunch instead of plastic ones.

Inside a room steps away from the Senate floor, Trump had a fiery exchange with Louisiana Republican Bill Cassidy, whose two-term Senate career Trump helped end last month. 

Cassidy, who voted for the resolution seeking to limit Trump's actions on Iran, stood up to criticize the president over the Middle East conflict as Senate Majority Leader John Thune tried to play peacemaker, a person familiar said. 

At one point, Trump called Cassidy a lunatic, another person said, refusing to sit as a colleague patted his back to calm him. The senator addressed Trump as "brother" rather than using his formal title, and Trump fired back that he isn't Cassidy's brother, the person said.

The president defended his war effort, telling senators he is the first US leader to do something to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, according to the person familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity to describe the closed-door exchange. 

Cassidy later told reporters that he pushed back against Trump over his criticism of the Senate's war powers vote. The senator said that he told Trump that he needed to be more forthcoming with the public about his war aims. 

"As I recall, he did not particularly care for my comments, 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," Cassidy said. "I make no apologies for standing up to the president, trying to demand that more information be shared with the Senate and more information be shared with the American people."

Cassidy said "one or two people" also spoke up, but wouldn't name them.

Earlier Wednesday, Trump appeared to be raring for a fight. He boasted that his polling is higher than ever, though recent surveys show his approval ratings near historic lows. And he posted on social media less than two hours before a planned signing ceremony at the Capitol that he wouldn't sign the bill until Congress approves voting restrictions, that previously failed to pass the Senate. 

In the meeting, Trump pushed Thune to be a leader and force the voter ID measure, known as the Save Act, through his chamber even if it meant scrapping longstanding rules, according to one of the people. Afterward, Trump told reporters that "for the most part we have a really well-unified party" but did not elaborate on the topics of conversation with senators. 

"We like our leader, we like everybody really in the room - I don't like a few people, but that's OK. I think you know who they are," Trump said. 

There was "lots of unity, lots of love," Senator Rand Paul, a Republican who in the past has sparred with Trump, sarcastically told reporters.

Thune said the lunch went how most people expected and called Trump "fired up about a couple issues." "People heard him out, but I think in the end, we all realize that to be successful and effective, we've got to pull the team together, and he made those points, too," Thune said. 

He called the meeting "important," adding that "it's an intra-family discussion, and it helps get some of the issues out there, airs them out, and in that respect, it sort of accomplished the objective."

Yet it's unclear whether the president will get what he wants. Republicans left the meeting no closer to passing his voting bill than they were when they went in. Indeed, the GOP-led Senate took no action on the measure whatsoever before leaving Wednesday night for a long recess.

For all their squabbling, Trump and Senate Republicans are inextricably bound to each other. Hours after the tense meeting, the White House asked Congress for $88 billion dollars to cover emergencies including the Iran War.

Republicans meanwhile urgently need Trump to help them sell their midterm message by promoting the tax cuts and immigration crackdown they passed. 

Thune told reporters in recent days the infighting has to stop and it's "time to lace up" for the midterms and focus attacks on Democrats.

The GOP currently has a majority in both chambers of Congress. Republicans consider the housing bill that Trump declined to sign on Wednesday an example to voters that they're trying to solve the high cost of living issue before they head to polls in November. 

Yet there were some small signs of movement.

House Speaker Mike Johnson plans to meet Trump on Thursday to work out a path forward on their legislative agenda. The White House said they would sit down in the Oval Office together at 2 p.m.

And Cassidy, who clashed with Trump at lunch, was swiftly brought to the White House later Wednesday for a briefing with Vice President JD Vance on the state of the situation in Iran. 

By the end of the day, Cassidy had had second thoughts about his war vote - and told reporters he regretted losing his temper at Trump. Hours after the briefing, he voted down a separate Iran war resolution late Wednesday in a victory of sorts for the president. As for his fight with Trump earlier in the day, he told reporters, "I wish I hadn't lost my temper."

In practice, Trump's move to hold up the housing bill could end up as only symbolic. The president has 10 days after the bill is presented to him to either sign or veto it, excluding Sundays, and if no action is taken it then becomes law. Johnson said Wednesday that he believes Trump will sign the bill before that period ends.

Trump could also veto the measure. In public comments he has criticized the substance of the bill, the main provision of which limits the ability of private equity to buy up single family homes. 

If Trump vetoes it that would complicate GOP lawmakers' fortunes again by forcing Republicans, who widely supported the legislation, to vote again on the bill - but this time do so having to weigh the political consequences of crossing the leader of their party.

"If he chooses to hold up his own agenda because he wants action on the Save Act, that's I guess his call," US Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican whom Trump failed to oust during the 2022 US midterm elections, said in an interview with CNN. 

"It is not helpful to him. It's not helpful to the country. And it's not moving the needle," Murkowski added. "If you don't have the votes, sir, you don't have the votes."

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)