Rand Paul Worries Trump Is Pursuing a ‘Regime Change War’: I Hope His Past ‘Instincts Will Prevail’

Fox News anchor John Roberts spoke to Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Tuesday about President Donald Trump’s threat that Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro’s days in power “are numbered.”

Roberts began the interview after playing the clip of Trump’s apparent threat, saying, “Kentucky Senator Rand Paul sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and is the chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, and he joins me now. I know, Senator, that you have concerns about President Trump going to war in Venezuela or, at the very least, mounting some sort of an invasion. Do you think that that is in the cards?”

Paul replied, “You know, I’m kind of old-fashioned. I kind of like to obey this thing called the Constitution. The Constitution says that war only occurs when it’s declared by Congress. The president doesn’t have the power to take the country to war. Now, if he does, he wouldn’t be the first president to disobey the Constitution. But I think we should obey the Constitution because I think it makes war less likely. But it would be unconstitutional for the president to do this alone. So if he thinks he wants war with Venezuela, he should come and ask for permission from Congress the way it was intended.”

Roberts added, “You know, there are a lot of presidents in the past who have not come to Congress for permission to go to war. I happen to put together this list. It started with Truman in the Korean War, Johnson in the Vietnam War, Reagan—the Grenada invasion, as well as Libya—President Clinton, the Kosovo War, where we were bombing Syria, Obama—Libya and ISIS—President Trump—Syria airstrikes and the Soleimani strike.”

“I’m reminded of what my mother would tell me when I was a kid: ten wrongs don’t make a right. So the fact that ten presidents have done it incorrectly doesn’t make it right. Our Founding Fathers were united to a person, all those who signed, all those who debated over the Constitution, the Federalist Papers—were unanimous that Congress should declare war, no president should on his own,” replied Paul, adding:

Rarely do you get a two-thirds vote. So it is very hard to stop a president hell-bent on war. But you know, I liked—what I liked most about President Trump was his idea that he didn’t believe in regime change war. He was against the Iraq War, he was against the war in Libya. So I hope that his instincts will prevail.

Roberts responded, “Well, he does seem to be interested in regime change in Venezuela. The president said the other day that Maduro’s days are numbered. And a way that he’s putting pressure on Maduro is with all of these strikes against these drug boats that are running either through the Caribbean or the Eastern Pacific.”

Watch the clip above via Fox News.