BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (AP) – Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana joined Democrats in voting against the end of Donald Trump’s impeachment trial Tuesday, a surprise reversal that Cassidy said was a response to U.S. attorneys. ‘ex-president who were doing “a terrible job” of discussing his case.
Cassidy was one of six Republican senators who sided with Democrats over the question of whether a former president can be tried after leaving office. The Louisiana senator’s position changed from January, when he voted to end the proceedings on the grounds that they were unconstitutional.
The vote provoked rapid criticism from Republicans of the senator’s deeply conservative state. But Cassidy said Trump’s lawyers did not defend his case. While Democrats ’dismissal managers were“ focused, organized, ”based on precedents and legal scholars, Trump’s team was“ disorganized, random, had nothing, ”he said.
“They talked about a lot of things, but they didn’t talk about the issue in question,” Cassidy said after the vote.
Still, the senator said his decision to move forward with the trial should not be taken as a sign that he will later vote to convict the former president. In recent calls to reporters, including a Tuesday morning, Cassidy declined to say whether he believes Trump committed a contested crime.
“I haven’t decided yet how I will vote,” he said.
Trump is the first president to face indictment charges after stepping down. The House accused him of inciting insurrection for his role in the January 6 siege of the United States Capitol. Hundreds of riots looted the building in an attempt to stop certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory, a national attack on the nation’s government headquarters unlike history. Five people died.
The Louisiana Republican Party quickly issued a statement Tuesday criticizing Cassidy for her vote and praising Louisiana Republican Party junior senator John Kennedy for voting against moving forward with the indictment. The Louisiana Republican Party said it was “deeply disappointed” by Cassidy’s vote.
“We believe that a trial for the removal 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 statement.
Republican Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana said he was “surprised” by Cassidy’s vote and suggested it was causing a turn in his ruby red state.
“I haven’t talked to him, but I can tell you that a lot of people at home are calling me right now,” Johnson said.
Cassidy won re-election this fall to a six-year term, which gave him time to amend with his party. But he has already received criticism for accepting Biden’s vote in the Electoral College and for acknowledging the Democratic president’s victory weeks ahead of many of his colleagues.
A local Republican women’s club sent Cassidy a letter in December telling her they felt “betrayed” after she declared that Biden had won the presidential election.
Kennedy, who is ready for re-election next year, has issued statements that consider the removal process unconstitutional and describes it as “a veiled effort by our country’s uber-elites, who disregard the majority of the north “Americans, to further denigrate people who chose to vote for President Trump and not vote for President Biden.”
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AP Congress correspondent Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to the report.