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

The Louisiana senator was one of just seven GOP senators who joined all Senate Democrats in voting to convict Trump — but the 57 guilty votes fell well-short of the 67 needed to convict the former President, resulting in his acquittal on the charge of inciting the January 6 insurrection.

“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.