Rand Paul Takes to Fox News Sunday to Condemn Trump Over Shutdown Gridlock, ‘Extrajudicial Killings’ On Suspected Drug Boats
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) condemned President Donald Trump on two major issues during an appearance on Fox News Sunday with anchor Shannon Bream.
Bream began by asking Paul about what he would ask Trump if there were a briefing on the US airstrikes against alleged drug-transporting vessels in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
Trump claimed on Thursday, “We may go to the Senate, we may go to the Congress and tell them about it, but I can’t imagine they’d have any problem with it.”
“We haven’t had a briefing. To be clear, we’ve gotten no information. I’ve been invited to no briefing,” Paul said, continuing:
But a briefing is not enough to overcome the Constitution. The Constitution says that when you go to war, Congress has to vote on it. And during a war, then, there’s a lower rules for engagement, and people do sometimes get killed without due process. But the drug war or…the crime war has typically been something we do through law enforcement.
And so far they have alleged that these people are drug dealers. No one said their name, no one said what evidence, no one said whether they’re armed, and we’ve had no evidence presented. So at this point, I would call them extrajudicial killings, and this is akin to what China does to Iran does with drug dealers. They summarily execute people without presenting evidence to the public, so it’s wrong.
Bream then addressed the government shutdown with both Paul and Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) — also appearing as a guest on Fox News Sunday.
“What is the Republican alternative for getting health care back on track?” Bream asked.
“I think if you put Senator Kaine and I in a room, I think we could figure something out,” Paul said. “And that’s part of the solution. I suggest that President Trump come forward and name three Republicans and three Democrats in the Senate to an official commission to figure this out over a one month period and come back with a solution.”
Paul continued, “But in exchange for that, I think the Democrats need to open the government for a month and then we need to pay the workers, pay our soldiers. And then I think we could come to a solution, but there has to be something different. It can’t be the same old same old, because just subsidizing insurance raises the cost of insurance, enriches the insurance company, and we’re still, you know, behind the eighth ball as far as insurance costs.”
Watch the clip above via Fox News.
