After President Donald Trump rebuked “RINO” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., for voting with Democrats to keep the government shut down and for working to obstruct Trump’s use of military force on drug boats in the Caribbean, Paul attempted to make peace Sunday.
“I’ve known the president for over a decade; I’ve played golf with him many, many times and enjoy his company and I was one of his biggest defenders of impeachments; and I think he’s one of the best presidents of my lifetime,” Paul told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“It doesn’t mean I’ll sit quietly and say, ‘Whatever you want to do.’ I was elected to have a voice, and so I’ll continue to be a voice, like on the bombing of the Venezuelan boats.
“It doesn’t mean I dislike Donald Trump and he gets mad at me sometimes, and but I’m one of his biggest supporters.”
The military arbitrarily bombing drug boats “2,000 miles away” goes “against all of our tradition,” Paul told host Kristen Welker.
“When you kill someone if you’re not in war, and not in a declared war, you really need to know someone’s name, at least,” he said. “You have to accuse them of something and you have to present evidence. All of these people have been blown up without us knowing their name and without evidence of a crime.
“And for decades, and if not centuries, when you stop people at sea in international waters or in your own waters you announce that you’re going to board the ship and you’re looking for contraband, smuggling or drugs.
“This happens every day off of Miami, but we know from coast guard statistics that, about 25% of the time the Coast Guard boards a ship, there are no drugs. So if our policy now is to blow up every ship we suspect or accuse of drug running, that would be a bizarre world in which 25% of the people might be innocent.”
Paul also questioned the vast distance of drug-trafficking actions the military is taking.
“The other thing about these speed boats is they’re 2,000 miles away from us,” Paul continued. “If they have drugs, they’re probably peddling drugs to one of the islands of Trinidad and Tobago off Venezuela.
“The idea of them coming here is a huge assumption, and he should be able to present some proof. It is the difference between war and peace. In war, though, you don’t ask people’s name.
“But if they want all-out war where we kill anybody and everybody that is in the country of Venezuela that are coming out, that has to have a declaration of war. It’s something that is not pretty, very expensive and I’m not in favor of declaring war on Venezuela, but the Congress should vote. The president shouldn’t do this by himself.”
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