Senator overheard on speakerphone warning Trump off military bill veto

Lawmakers have criticised the president’s veto threat over social media protections

A Republican senator has reportedly warned Donald Trump against vetoing an annual military bill, which the president says he will not support unless Congress repeals social media companies’ legal protections, an unrelated matter.

Oklahoma senator Jim Inhofe warned the US president about vetoing the military spending and policy bill on Wednesday, and was overheard doing so, on a speakerphone in a Senate corridor.

Mr Inhofe, according to Axios, addressed "Mr President" before saying that the bill’s passage through Congress was "the only chance” to see it passed.

Congress had been set to approve this year’s $740 billion military budget before Mr Trump threatened to veto the bill on Tuesday, with an unexpected intervention.  

He argued that lawmakers should repeal a law known as Section 230, which the president and his allies have said allowed social media companies to moderate conservative users.  

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act also protects social media companies against content posted by users, and controls how they moderate content.

Mr Trump wrote on Tuesday that Section 230 was “a serious threat to our National Security,” and that the “very dangerous & unfair Section 230” should be “terminated as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

“I will be forced to unequivocally VETO the Bill when sent to the very beautiful Resolute desk. Take back America NOW,” he added.

Republicans in Congress have said the president’s demands did not make sense, and had already started writing the bill on Wednesday, according to Axios.

Mr Inhofe told reporters that although he agreed with Mr Trump on Section 230, the provision “has nothing to do with the military.”