Two Republicans rejoined the ranks of the GOP Senate caucus on Wednesday and voted to defeat a Democratic resolution aimed at constricting President Donald Trump from carrying out further military strikes within Venezuela.
Josh Hawley and Todd Young were two of five senators who broke with their party last week to support the resolution, but switched back on Wednesday after several days of intense lobbying that according to multiple reports lasted up until the very minute of the vote Wednesday evening.
Young and Hawley both told reporters on Wednesday that the keys to their votes being won by the White House were assurances from top officials that despite the president’s threats to send in ground troops or carry out further strikes, the administration had no plans on doing so. Vice President JD Vance cast the tiebreaking vote, after the chamber was deadlocked at 50-50.
He added that Secretary of State Marco Rubio, one of the top Trump officials involved in the discussions related to Venezuela, would appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to testify on the matter.
The Senate delivered Donald Trump a symbolic defeat last week when he suffered a major defection on the initial vote to advance the War Powers resolution submitted by Sen. Tim Kaine out of committee, while Democrats voted in unison to support the measure. While the actual consequences of the vote were minimal, it served as shot across the bow for the president who has spent weeks alarming the Hill with suggestions about future strikes in Venezuela or other countries and even possibly a military effort to seize Greenland.
Trump himself reacted with fury after the votes were cast, labeling the five Republican senators (Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Todd Young, Rand Paul and Josh Hawley) disloyal and demanding that voters hand them defeats at the ballot box in the future. One of those senators, Collins, is facing a tight reelection battle this year in a crucial state for the Republican Senate majority.
“Republicans should be ashamed of the Senators that just voted with Democrats,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, Josh Hawley, and Todd Young should never be elected to office again.”
Behind the scenes, Trump and his allies worked down to the wire to win those same senators back into the fold, according to several. They were successful after Secretary of State Marco Rubio guaranteed in a letter to Hawley and Young that the White House would seek congressional authorization before deploying troops to the region.
“I have received assurances that there are no American troops in Venezuela. I’ve also received a commitment that if President Trump were to determine American forces are needed in major military operations in Venezuela, the Administration will come to Congress in advance to ask for an authorization of force,” Young said in a statement.
This is a breaking news report. More to follow…
