Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) launched critiques at President Trump and Vice President Vance in an interview with ABC News on Sunday.
Paul joined ABC anchor Andrew Sorkin for an exclusive 1-on-1 interview where the pair discussed the second Venezuelan tanker seizure, the strikes on ISIS assets in Syria, and Vance’s potential 2028 presidential campaign.
“I consider it a provocation and a prelude to war,” Paul said regarding the operation to seize sanctioned oil. “It isn’t the job of the American soldier to be the policemen of the world. I am not for confiscating these liners. I am not for blowing up these boats of unarmed people that are suspected of being drug dealers. I am not for any of this.”
Paul went on to state that Trump’s Venezuelan policy was a departure from his past positions, “Donald Trump was against the Iraq war - against the regime change there. Now his administration is calling fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction. They should be a little more understanding that that term…has come to represent basically falsehood in intelligence.”
“I sure hope we don’t go to war with Venezuela,” Paul added.
The interview then turned toward Syria. President Trump announced strikes on ISIS targets in the country after two U.S. service members were killed in an ambush. Paul again suggested that the move was contrary to Trump’s foreign policy during his first term.
“You know, it's hard not to want to hit back when they kill some of our own. But I would like to go back, really, to the first Trump administration when he said he didn't want the troops there,” Paul stated. “There's like 900 troops, maybe 1,000, maybe 1,500. They're not enough to fight a war. They're not enough to be an effective strategic force. What they are is a target and a tripwire.”
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When asked about Sec. Marco Rubio and Erika Kirk’s recent endorsement of JD Vance ahead of the 2028 election, Paul signaled that the Vice President did not have his support.
I think there needs to be representatives in the Republican Party who still believe international trade is good, who still believe in free-market capitalism, who still believe in low taxes. See, it used to separate conservatives and liberals that conservatives thought it was a spending problem. We didn't want more revenue. We wanted less spending. But now all these pro-tariff protectionists, they love taxes. So they tax, tax, tax, and then they brag about all the revenue coming in. That has never been a conservative position. So I'm going to continue to try to lead a conservative free-market wing of the party, and we'll see where things lead over time.
Paul also opined on the handling of the Epstein investigation documents: “I think it all should be released. I mean, look, the administration has struggled for months and months with something they initially ginned up and then sorta tried to tamp down. So any evidence or any kind of indication that there’s not a full reveal, this will just plague them for just months and months more.”
President Trump has not been shy about his disapproval of the Kentucky senator either. He expressed his displeasure with Paul on Truth Social last month.
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