Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., defended his decision to vote to convict President Donald Trump during his second impeachment trial five years ago, even after losing his Senate seat to a Trump-backed opponent this week.
Cassidy said he considers it a “privilege” to have been able to vote to uphold the Constitution. Cassidy lost the state’s Republican primary to Rep. Julia Letlow, R-La., whom Trump abruptly endorsed and encouraged to run against Cassidy in January.
“I voted to uphold the Constitution. It may have cost me my seat, but who cares?” Cassidy told reporters at the Capitol on Monday. “I had the privilege of voting to uphold the Constitution, isn’t that a great thing?”
“You’re looking at a man who loves his country, who feels very, very good about how I serve my country and my Constitution and my fellow Americans,” Cassidy said. “Wouldn’t all of us want to say, I voted to support the Constitution on something momentous? That’s the way I feel about it. I’m very pleased about it.”
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Trump himself pulled no punches on the morning of the Saturday election, calling Cassidy a “sleazebag,” “a terrible guy” and a “disloyal disaster.”
Letlow came in first with 45% of the vote, followed by Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming with 28%. Cassidy came in third with just over 24% of the vote.
Letlow and Fleming will now proceed to a runoff election next month.
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After Cassidy’s defeat, Trump returned to social media to revel in the senator’s ouster, saying that “it’s nice to see that his political career is OVER!”
Cassidy, in a speech to supporters after conceding, said, “When you participate in democracy, sometimes it doesn’t turn out the way you want it to.”
“But you don’t pout, you don’t whine. You don’t claim the election was stolen…. You don’t manufacture some excuse,” Cassidy said in an apparent jab at Trump. “You thank the voters for the privilege of representing the state or the country for as long as you’ve had that privilege. And that’s what I’m doing right now.”
Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
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