U.S. President Donald Trump drew sharp criticism in a closed-door meeting with Republican lawmakers on Wednesday, just hours before his administration requested tens of billions of dollars from Congress to finance the Iran conflict.
Several Republicans in the room said Trump engaged in a heated exchange with Sen. Bill Cassidy, who questioned the administration’s handling of a recent framework deal with Iran that offers financial incentives but falls short of the war aims Trump outlined at the start of the conflict.
“The American people need to know more than we are being told,” Cassidy told reporters. “It does not appear, although I do not know for sure, that the course of this is going the way we were told.”
U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy leaves after a Senate Republican luncheon with US President Donald J. Trump at the US Capitol, in Washington, U.S., June 24, 2026. (EPA Photo)
Later, in what appeared to be an effort to align with the White House, Senate Republican leaders scheduled a late-night vote aimed at blocking a resolution seeking to end hostilities with Iran.
