Rand Paul Laments CNN’s ‘Dishonest’ Coverage of His View On Disaster Relief In Aftermath of Tornadoes: ‘Haven’t Even Buried Our Dead Yet’
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) lamented on Fox News on Tuesday what he called CNN’s “dishonest” coverage of his view of disaster relief following tornadoes that devastated Kentucky and other Midwest states over the weekend.
CNN’s John Avlon on Monday called out Paul’s supposed hypocrisy when it comes to federal disaster relief. On Saturday, Paul sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking for “expeditious approval of any request for federal assistance” by Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
“[He] has a long record of opposing federal aid for disaster victims, except, apparently, for when it impacts his constituents,” said Avlon. “Suddenly, all of those reflexive attacks on ‘socialist big-government spending’ don’t seem to apply.”
“There’s been some criticism of you asking for aid request for the tornado damage in your state, federal aid, while some are pointing out that you opposed it in other instances including Hurricane Sandy,” said America Reports co-host Sandra Smith. “How are you responding to that criticism?”
Paul did not hold back:
It’s sad. We haven’t buried our dead yet and networks like CNN were, frankly, they’re fundamentally dishonest people saying things that are untrue. When I was first elected in 2010, within months, I was advocating for disaster relief for Kentucky. I’ve never had a problem with the program. I’ve never really opposed disaster relief for any part of the country.
But I have said, when it goes over budget, when we spend everything that’s within our budget, that it should be paid for by taking money from places in the budget from places that are less essential. I think that’s a very reasonable fiscally conservative. But, you know, you watch CNN and you have people who basically all they care about is attack, attack, attack.
Like I said, we’re trying to bury the dead and CNN’s busy fighting some left-wing partisan war founded on dishonesty. And I informed the CNN reporter of that yesterday and they didn’t report one word I said. All they’re going to do is basically lie to people. But it’s also why nobody wants to watch them anymore. They used to be a trusted source of news and now, my goodness, it’s just a factory of lies and partisanship and I don’t know how anybody can watch it anymore.
Watch above, via Fox News.