Last Updated on January 9, 2023
U.S. Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) has officially resigned after announcing that he would do so in a statement last year. The former Nebraska Senator took one last parting jab at former President Trump while heading out the door for his new position at the University of Florida.
Sasse — who served as the president of Midland University in his home state before running for Senate — submitted is resignation last month and said he would be leaving office on January 8.
In his farewell remarks, Sasse was critical of the U.S. Senate’s ability to function. “Each of us knows we should be taking a look in the mirror and acknowledging that lives lived in a politicized echo chamber are unworthy of a place that calls itself a deliberative body, let alone the world’s greatest deliberative body,” Sasse said.
“When we’re being honest with each other, which usually means when on one of the very rare occasions where cameras aren’t present, we all know that a big chunk of the performative yelling that happens here and in every hearing room is just about being booked for even more performative yelling at night on TV,” he continued.
Prior to leaving, Sasse took one final parting shot at former president Trump. “I’m just sad for him as a human because obviously there’s a lot of complicated stuff going on in that soul,” Sasse told the Omaha World-Herald of Trump. “Just at a human level, I’m sad for him to be that needy and desperate.”
Sasse was one of seven Senate Republicans who voted to impeach then President Trump following the January 6 Capitol protests. He accused Trump of inciting violence and “threatening” election officials, among other things. “Those lies had consequences, endangering the life of the vice president and bringing us dangerously close to a bloody constitutional crisis,” Sasse said of Trump’s voter fraud claims.
“Each of these actions are violations of a president’s oath of office.”
The Nebraska Senator frequently criticized Trump throughout his tenure despite the former president’s popularity in his home state.
When Trump announced his re-election bid prior to 2020, Sasse said that he “kisses dictators’ butts,” “flirted with white supremacists,” disparages women, “mocks evangelicals behind closed doors” and “treats the presidency like a business opportunity.”
The seat will now be filled through an appointment by Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen, a Republican. The state’s previous governor, Pete Ricketts, said that he would seek the position.