Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) told “Axios on HBO” he’s not sure former President Donald Trump would win the Republican nomination if he ran in 2024 — a rare voice of criticism from within the party.
- When I raised the conventional wisdom that Trump would be expected to win the nomination, Cassidy jumped in.“
- I don't know that,” the senator said during our interview in Chalmette, La.
The big picture: “Trump is the first president in the Republican side at least to lose the House, the Senate and the presidency in four years. Elections are about winning," Cassidy said.
- On the possibility of Trump losing the nomination, Cassidy said: “Well, if you want to win the presidency — and hopefully that's what voters are thinking about — I think he might.”
Cassidy, one of seven Republican senators to vote to convict Trump at the impeachment trial in January, said he wouldn’t vote for Trump in 2024.
- The senator said he voted to convict Trump because he took “an oath to support and defend the Constitution. And when there was a pattern of behavior that culminated as it did on January the 6th — and we've had revelations since — that just led me to that decision.”