President Donald Trump is encouraging Rep. Julia Letlow to run against Republican Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy in the state's primary. CBS News' Caitlin Huey-Burns reports.

Washington

Former President Donald Trump has endorsed Congresswoman Julie Letlow as a potential primary challenger to Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy. Cassidy, a Republican, has faced criticism from Trump and his supporters after voting to convict Trump during his impeachment trial and for his role in confirming Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as HHS Secretary.

Trump's endorsement, made public on Truth Social, is expected to encourage Letlow to enter the race, despite her not having officially announced her candidacy. Republican leadership is reportedly concerned about such primary challenges, as they could complicate efforts to maintain control of the Senate and require additional resources.

Trump endorses Cassidy's potential primary challenger in Louisiana

Republican control, they do control Congress, but only by a slim majority in the House and the Senate. A growing number of them have been voicing frustrations with the White House and have voted against certain priorities, but not without consequence. This weekend, President Trump endorsed a potential primary challenger to Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy. Cassidy is a Republican, but has been at odds with the president and his administration in recent months over HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s leadership. Cassidy is also a doctor, and he was one of seven Senate Republicans who voted to convict President Trump in his impeachment trial after the January 6th attack on the Capitol in 2021. So let's bring in CBS News Congressional Correspondent Kaitlan Huey-Burns. So, Kaitlan, what's interesting about Senator Cassidy, I get that he's now pushing back on some of the policies, specifically as it relates to HHS, but he cast the deciding vote in the nominating process of RFK Jr. So, I don't know, like... Well, he says he was given assurances from the administration on vaccines. I don't know where that stands. Yeah, okay. Probably didn't hold up, but... Yeah, so, you know, I mean, I got a violin here. I don't know. Help me figure this out. I mean, Vlad, you can imagine a world in which RFK Jr. is not the secretary of HHS if Cassidy doesn't vote to confirm him. He was the deciding vote in getting him out of the committee and on to full confirmation. So without Cassidy, you can argue that RFK Jr. is not the secretary of HHS. Now, what's significant here is that, as Adriana mentioned, you know, Cassidy said that he got assurances from RFK Jr. and therefore voted to confirm him or move him through his committee, but he has been disappointed by those, and he hasn't really, you know, he's defied some of those, especially when it comes to vaccines. But basically, what this comes down to, guys, is that Cassidy voted to impeach the president. This is a long-held grudge that the president has against the Louisiana senator. It's a very red state. No Democrat is really vying for this or would win it, so this is all playing out in a primary, and this is a president who we well know holds grudges pretty dearly, and he has encouraged Julie Letlow, who is a congresswoman who has been toying with the idea of running but wasn't really going to get in until Trump endorsed her, and last night, he put out that Truth Social saying that he wants her to run instead of Cassidy. So what I wonder is, does this now, you know, does Cassidy, he says he's still running and he will win in his words, but does this free him up in any way to be, you know, a little more freewheeling in his critiques of the administration? I'm not sure, because in order to win, you need the support of Trump voters, and this is what it all comes down to, why these guys have to kind of thread this needle. Yeah, you know, I thought it was interesting. You're right, Senator Cassidy did post a response to the president's endorsement saying that he was confident he will win even if Representative Letlow does enter the race, but the president's endorsing her before she's even announced. She hasn't even announced. And invoking the great cinematic masterpiece, Forrest Gump saying, run, Julia, run, in his Truth Social post. Yeah, kind of a wink wink there. And, you know, she is likely to get in now that she has that endorsement. That was kind of the assurance that she needed to get in. And Cassidy still says he's running. You know, what's interesting too is that Republican leadership up here doesn't want these, you know, primary challenges to happen. They've got to keep seats to keep the Senate. They don't want to be spending money in these big, you know, primaries. So the president weighing in here does throw wrench into things. All right, always fun to talk to you. Caitlin Huey Burns, my friend, thank you so much.

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