Congress

No YOLO yet: Bill Cassidy insists he won’t be out for revenge against Trump

Published

1 month ago

May 19, 2026

Donald Trump got his revenge on Sen. Bill Cassidy. The Louisiana Republican says he isn’t planning to return the favor — yet.

Freed from political constraints after decisively losing his battle for renomination Saturday, Cassidy could — if he chooses — gum up major parts of Trump’s agenda on Capitol Hill. To start with, he holds what amounts to veto power over key nominees as chair of the Senate committee overseeing health care, labor and education and as a member of the powerful Senate Finance Committee.

Cassidy, in multiple lengthy chats with reporters Monday around the Capitol, batted down any suggestion he is now liberated to challenge Trump head-on. But he also declined to say how he would handle tricky upcoming votes on the Iran war or an immigration enforcement bill and urged Washington to embrace bipartisanship.

“Am I going to deliberately push back on things? No, I’m going to do what’s good for my country and my state,” he said.

Asked about the nominees coming through the panel he chairs — which could include a new Labor secretary and FDA commissioner — Cassidy noted that there were already nominees who were not able to get through the committee.

“I’m going to continue to do what is best for my state and best for my country and try and make every decision with that consideration,” he said about whether his approach to the administration will change.

Those comments came after Cassidy delivered a withering, if veiled, condemnation of Trump in his concession speech, raising the possibility that he could become increasingly outspoken in his disagreements with the president over the next seven months.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., speaks to supporters during an election night watch party Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Baton Rouge, La.

“Insults only bother me if they come from somebody of character and integrity. I find that people of character and integrity don’t spend their time attacking people on the internet,” Cassidy said during the speech Saturday night.

Cassidy largely avoided addressing Trump directly when speaking with reporters Monday. He declined to say, for instance, if he thought Trump had done something that constituted a high crime or misdemeanor during his second term. He was one of the seven Republicans to vote to convict the president on impeachment charges after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.

Instead, Cassidy said he wanted to “give a better vision of how we should do things” and signaled that’s an area where he will speak out on before his term ends in early January.

“I think people want me to say negative things,” he said. “I’m saying positive things, positive things that may reflect upon the current circumstance, but it’s coming from my heart about making my country a better place, and that’s my goal.”

Cassidy’s avowed attitude could be a sigh of relief for Senate Republicans, who need near-complete unity to confirm nominees or advance legislation through the Senate unless they can win over Democratic votes.

Republicans already have several members who are retiring, and while they generally vote with the party, former GOP Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina have shown a willingness to break with the president on key issues.

“I don’t see him going in the way of a Thom Tillis, or something like that, to cause unnecessary problems,” said a former Cassidy aide granted anonymity to candidly assess the senator’s thinking. “I think he’ll continue to do what he’s always done, which is just kind of do what he feels is right. I would be surprised if he goes on the warpath.”

Saturday’s loss was the culmination of a politically tortuous year for Cassidy, who stifled his concerns and advanced several controversial Trump nominees — most prominently HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

He also told colleagues — and Blue Light News — last year that the White House had assured him Trump would stay neutral in the primary, something some GOP senators were privately skeptical about given the president’s mercurial nature and lingering anger over the 2021 vote.

Trump instead endorsed a primary opponent, Rep. Julia Letlow, as payback for Cassidy’s 2021 conviction vote. She won a plurality Saturday and will face former Rep. John Fleming in a June 27 runoff.

Cassidy said Monday he had no regrets over the conviction vote.

“I actually voted to uphold the Constitution — that’s a better way to put it,” Cassidy said. “That may have cost me my seat, but who cares?”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on concerns over Cassidy blocking legislative priorities or nominees.

A name plate and the seal of the state of Louisiana are seen outside the office of Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) on Capitol Hill on May 18, 2026.

A former administration official from Trump’s first term said the president’s team understood the risks of not endorsing Cassidy and isn’t worried about the senator going into YOLO mode now.

“This is the outcome they wanted — I think that they had factored all of that in from the beginning,” the person said. “I don’t see any regret coming out of them. Cassidy would have been a thorn in the side all the way through the end. And, to be honest, once he got past an election, I don’t think he would care anymore, because who’s going to be gone first — Trump or Cassidy?”

The person added that Cassidy won’t be the only senator on his way out the door looking to block nominees from the president, suggesting the White House could keep acting officials in place until a new Congress is seated next year.

Several of his colleagues downplayed that Cassidy, who is known within the conference for being a low-key health-policy wonk, would suddenly reinvent himself as a major gadfly for Senate leadership or the White House.

But there are already signs that Cassidy might be freer with his post-election tongue.

Asked Monday about the Justice Department’s establishment of a controversial “antiweaponization” fund to pay settlements to people allegedly targeted by Democratic administrations, the senator said he didn’t see a “legal precedent” for it.

Cassidy’s delegation mate, GOP Sen. John Kennedy said, he is “very nonemotional in the way he makes his decisions.”

“He’s very analytical, and personally, I think Bill will just continue to do what he’s always done, just call it like he sees it,” he added.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune called Cassidy a “team player” who wants to “see our team succeed.”

“He’s got several months here in which he can be a real force for change and a factor in trying to get some things done, and chairs an incredibly significant, powerful committee here, and we look forward to continuing to work with him,” Thune said.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), a member of the committee Cassidy chairs, largely declined to comment on the race but noted that he’s got bills he wants to get through the panel before the end of the year.

“I’m going to be really nice to him,” Hawley said.

Kelsey Brugger, Calen Razor and Hailey Fuchs contributed to this report.

Congress

Mitch McConnell is still in the hospital after medical episode, his office says

Published

3 hours ago

July 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Mitch McConnell remains hospitalized, his office said in a statement Thursday — without offering details about a recent medical episode that has renewed concern about the health of the former Republican majority leader.

McConnell “continues his recovery in the hospital” and “continues to improve,” his office said.

“Senator McConnell appreciates the outpouring of support he’s receiving while he continues his recovery in the hospital,” the statement said. “The Senator continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.”

The statement did not explain why he was hospitalized last month.

The update comes after multiple outlets reported details of a first responder dispatch call indicating emergency medical personnel responded to McConnell’s home last month to treat an unconscious person who had experienced “cardiac arrest.”

Blue Light News has not independently verified the dispatch call.

The 84-year-old senator, who is retiring at the end of this term, has experienced multiple medical incidents in recent years. On two occasions in 2023, he froze while speaking with reporters. He has also suffered multiple falls and temporarily used a wheelchair, a move his office described at the time as a precautionary measure.

Congress

House Ethics says it doesn’t have information to share on lawmaker sexual misconduct settlements

Published

11 hours ago

July 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The House adopted a resolution Tuesday requiring the House Ethics Committee to release information on taxpayer funds used to pay out sexual misconduct settlements with lawmakers — but the committee now says it has no information it can share.

In a statement Thursday, the committee reiterated it does not manage sexual harassment lawsuits or their settlements; taxpayers have not footed the bill for those payments since 2018.

Since that time, according to the statement, “the Committee has not been notified of any awards or settlements relating to allegations of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, or other sexual misconduct by a Member.”

Instead, the bipartisan Ethics Committee said it was up to the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights to publicly release a list of each member who has received settlements for sexual misconduct allegations, as mandated by the resolution championed by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).

The committee, in the Thursday statement, said it “fully supports the release of information about sexual misconduct settlements and calls on OCWR to abide by [the resolution] and make publicly available information about Member sexual misconduct matters resulting in payment of taxpayer funds.”

Massie, in a text message Thursday, said “OCWR can release it.”

The OCWR did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The bipartisan Ethics Committee has been under pressure in recent months to show it takes allegations of sexual misconduct against colleagues seriously. Two former House members — Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) — were forced to resign earlier this year amid serious accusations against them.

The renewed reckoning has prompted new questions about whether the House is up to the task of policing its own. The resolution earlier this week was adopted nearly unanimously, with just one member, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), voting “present.”

House Ethics Chair Michael Guest (R-Miss.) said in an interview earlier this week that while he would support Massie’s resolution, the relevant “information was already out in the public domain.”

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

Congress

AOC endorses El-Sayed in Michigan Senate race

Published

14 hours ago

July 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) endorsed Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign for Michigan’s open Senate seat on Thursday, a decision that comes as progressives look to capitalize off a series of recent high-profile primary victories in New York, Colorado and elsewhere.

Her endorsement could provide El-Sayed with a critical boost just over a month before the state’s Aug. 4 primary. The former public health official is locked in a heated contest against Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow for the right to take on Republican Mike Rogers in the general election.

It also comes as El-Sayed has risen to the top of the pack in recent public polling.

Virtually any Democratic path to flipping the Senate in this year’s midterms would see the party hold the open Michigan Senate seat, with two-term Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) retiring at the end of his term.

The race has emerged as perhaps the largest battleground over the ideological future of the party. El-Sayed, who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2018, has collected endorsements from progressives, while Stevens has the tacit backing of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, with AIPAC also boosting her candidacy.

El-Sayed, Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview with The New York Times, is her party’s best chance.

“Despite our ideological differences and whatever disagreements there are in the party, every single one of us sees this moment as existential,” she said. “And I think many people are willing to put aside differences in order to give us the best chance at winning. And I think that Abdul gives us that right now.”