President Donald Trump laid into Republican Senator Susan Collins in an expletive-laden phone call after she voted against one of his top priorities.
The president reportedly made a “profanity-laced” call to the vulnerable Republican senator on Thursday, sources told The Hill. Collins was one of five GOP senators to join Democrats in advancing a resolution on the War Powers Act from committee to the floor, which passed in a 52-47 vote earlier in the day.
“He was very mad about the vote,” the source told The Hill. “Very mad. Very hot.”
The resolution would block the president’s ability to use military force against Venezuela following the U.S. capture of the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro. This throws a wrench in Trump’s plans to seize Venezuela’s oil.
The source told The Hill that the president “basically read her the riot act,” in a phone call that came “out of the blue.” Collins’ office confirmed to The Hill that the call took place, but did not include any additional details about what the president said. The Daily Beast has reached out to the senator’s representatives and the White House for comment.
In addition to Collins, Republican senators Rand Paul, Lisa Murkowski, Josh Hawley, and Todd Young also voted to advance the war powers resolution. The move made Trump angry. He posted at length about the five conservative lawmakers on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“Republicans should be ashamed of the Senators that just voted with Democrats in attempting to take away our Powers to fight and defend the United States of America,” Trump wrote. “Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, Josh Hawley, and Todd Young should never be elected to office again.”
Collins is up for reelection this year and faces a tight race as Democratic challengers gain in popularity. Her seat will be important for Republicans to maintain control of the Senate after the midterms. However, Trump has been a thorn in his party’s side, openly expressing his wish to see Collins out. This latest call appears to reaffirm his animosity toward the senator.
“The president obviously is unhappy with the vote,” Collins told reporters following Trump’s ire. “I guess this means that he would prefer to have Gov. Mills or somebody else with whom he’s not had a great relationship. I don’t know, I’m just not going to comment.”
The president has faced pressure and criticism following the operation in Venezuela that ended in Maduro’s capture. While Maduro sits in custody awaiting trial, Trump has announced plans for the U.S. to “run” Venezuela and sell millions of barrels of its oil.
Trump met with major oil executives from companies like Chevron and Exxon on Friday to discuss Venezuela’s oil infrastructure. However, the president, 79, quickly veered off-topic, pausing the meeting to wax poetic about the White House ballroom currently under construction.
