Cassidy says Trump’s ‘force wanes’ and defends guilty vote after Louisiana GOP censure

“I listened very carefully to all the arguments,” he said. “It was clear that he wished the lawmakers be intimidated. And even after he knew there was violence taking place, he continued to basically sanction the mob being there and not until later did he actually ask them to leave. All of that points to a motive and a method and that is wrong, he should be held accountable.”

The Louisiana Republican Party moved swiftly to censure Cassidy in a unanimous vote following the trial.

“The Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Louisiana has unanimously voted to censure Senator Bill Cassidy for his vote cast earlier today to convict former President Donald J. Trump on the impeachment charge,” the state party said in a statement Saturday.

When asked about the censure, Cassidy said he was elected to “uphold an oath to support and defend the Constitution.”

“I’m attempting to hold President Trump accountable and that is the trust I have from the people that elected me and I’m very confident that as time passes people will move to that position,” he said.

Federal prosecutors in Washington investigating the insurrection have signaled that no one is above the law, including Trump, and have stressed that nothing is off the table when asked if they were looking at the former President’s role in inciting violence.

“I think more importantly is how we move forward from this. If you will, criminal trials will be looking back. We need to look forward, because the ideas of our party are more important than ever, particularly in contrast to the Biden-Harris administration,” he said.