Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) will reportedly now vote with Senate Republican leaders to defeat a resolution that aims to block President Trump from using military force against Venezuela.
Hawley, who backed advancing the measure last week, said Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed to him that Trump will not deploy troops to Venezuela.
Hawley changed his position on the bill several days after Trump lashed out at him and the four other Republican senators who voted to advance the measure out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week.
The Hill reports:
A person familiar with Hawley’s position confirmed that he will vote against the war powers resolution when it comes up for consideration on the Senate floor Wednesday.
Hawley told Punchbowl News on Wednesday that he will vote to quash the war powers resolution after receiving assurances from Rubio that the administration would seek approval from Congress before deploying troops to Venezuela.
Trump called for the ouster of Hawley and GOP Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Todd Young (Ind.) after they defied him last week with their votes.
“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. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, Josh Hawley, and Todd Young should never be elected to office again,” Trump wrote on Truth Social after the vote.
Hawley brushed off the President’s criticism last week, arguing his reading of the Constitution led him to believe deploying troops to Venezuela or another country requires authorization from Congress.
“I don’t take any offense to that,” Hawley told reporters at the time. “I think the president’s great. Love the president.
“But on this, today … I was asked to vote on would Congress need to weigh in if the administration decided they needed to commit troops to the future for hostilities,” he said. “Under the Constitution … I think we have to vote on that.
