Trump Was in 'Pretty Heavy Duty' Iran Talks During Controversial War Powers Vote, Senator Says

President Donald Trump had to stress the lack of practical importance of the Senate’s recent 50-48 war powers resolution vote to the Iranians on Tuesday, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) confirmed.

“I think it would be fair to say that he was very upset about the war powers vote,” Kennedy told reporters following Trump’s lunch with Republican senators on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

“He was in the middle of pretty heavy duty negotiations, and he had to stop, and he explained to the Iranian negotiators why it was a meaningless vote,” the senator added.

“I don’t blame him at all,” he said regarding the president’s frustration with the vote.

Trump alluded to the confusion the vote may have caused in a late Tuesday Truth Social post where he called the vote “poorly timed and meaningless.”

“Four Republican Losers voted with the Dumocrats, and Iran asked my people, ‘what does that all mean?’ These Senators have just made my job more difficult, but I will get it done, one way or the other, because I always get it done!”

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Trump also traded barbs over the situation in Iran during the lunch, as Cassidy voted for the resolution and remains skeptical of the Trump administration's approach to the conflict.

“I lost my temper. That's not appropriate,” Cassidy told reporters after the lunch, adding that other senators were urging him to calm down.

Republican Sens. Susan Collins, Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski voted for the resolution, according to the Associated Press. Meanwhile, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who sometimes bucks his own party, decided against it.