BATON ROUGE, La (AP) – Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana has joined Democrats to end Donald Trump’s termination trial by Tuesday, a surprise reversal that Cassidy said was a reaction to the former president’s lawyers. who did a “terrible job” of arguing. their case.
Cassidy was among six Republican senators who joined the Democrats on whether a former president could be tried after he left office. The Louisiana senator’s position has been a turnaround since January, when he voted to end the proceedings on the grounds that it was unconstitutional.
The vote drew swift criticism from Republicans in the senator’s deeply conservative state. But Cassidy said Trump’s lawyers are not postponing their case. While the Democrats’ prosecution executives were ‘focused’, they were ‘organized’ and relying on precedents and jurists, Trump’s team was’ disorganized, arbitrary, had nothing ‘, he said.
“They talked about a lot of things, but they did not talk about the issue,” Cassidy said after the vote.
The senator nevertheless said that his decision to proceed with the trial should not be a sign that he would later vote to convict the former president. In recent calls with reporters, including one Tuesday morning, Cassidy declined to say whether he believed Trump had committed an undisputed offense.
“I have not yet decided how I will vote,” he said.
Trump is the first president to face charges of dismissal after leaving office. The House accused him of inciting an uprising for his role in the January 6 siege of the American Capitol. Hundreds of rioters stormed the building trying to stop the certification of the victory of Democrat Joe Biden, a domestic attack on the government seat of the country, unlike in its history. Five people were killed.
Louisiana’s Republican Party quickly issued a statement Tuesday criticizing Cassidy for his vote and praising John Louis’ junior GOP senator Louis Kennedy for voting against continuing the indictment. The Louisiana GOP said he was “deeply disappointed” by Cassidy’s voice.
“We feel that an accusation of a private citizen is not only an unconstitutional act, but also an attack on the foundations of American democracy, which will have far-reaching and unforeseen consequences for our republic,” the party said. statement.
Louisiana Republican Rep. Mike Johnson said he was surprised by Cassidy’s vote and suggested it was causing a stir in their ruby red state.
“I have not spoken to him yet, but I can tell you that many people in the house are calling me about it now,” Johnson said.
Cassidy won the fall re-election to a term of six years, which gave him time to get his party right. But he has already received criticism for accepting the election college for Biden and for acknowledging the Democratic president’s victory weeks in front of many of his colleagues.
A local Republican women’s club sent a letter to Cassidy in December saying they were “betrayed” after declaring Biden had won the presidential election.
Kennedy, who is up for re-election next year, has issued statements hearing the accusation as unconstitutional, calling it “a thinly veiled attempt by the uber elite in our country, who look down on most Americans, to get the people elected to further disperse. to vote for President Trump and not for President Biden. ”
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AP Congress correspondent Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.