Republican Senator Squashed Trump’s Filibuster Hopes in Phone Call: ‘Job of a Senator Is To Also Kill Bad Ideas’

Zachary Leeman Nov 4th, 2025, 3:35 pm

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) told CNN’s Manu Raju that he directly defied President Donald Trump on ending the Senate’s filibuster rule in a tense phone call.

CNN’s Early Start on Tuesday aired Kennedy speaking to reporters, including Raju, explaining that he told Trump his job as a senator is to “kill bad ideas,” referring to the president’s insistence that the Senate throw out its filibuster rule requiring 60 votes to pass legislation. Dumping the filibuster and requiring only a simple majority would allow Republicans to pass a continuing resolution to reopen the federal government.

“He called me, I explained to him, I said,

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