Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) on Sunday fiercely challenged the legality of the recent U.S. military strikes against suspected drug boats in the Caribbean, telling NBC’s Meet The Press host Kristen Welker that the actions are “illegal” and “go against all of our tradition.”
The Republican senator’s comments come amid an escalating situation in the region, where more than 20 people have been killed in six strikes authorized by President Donald Trump.
“No, they go against all of our tradition,” Senator Paul responded when asked if he believes the strikes are legal. “When you kill someone, you should know, if you’re not in—at war, not in a declared war, you really need to know someone’s name at least. You have to accuse them of something. You have to present evidence.”
READ: Trump Authorizes Secret CIA Operations In Venezuela, Including Possible Anti-Cartel Strikes
Senator Paul argued that the military action has resulted in individuals being “blown up without us knowing their name, without any evidence of a crime.” He contrasted the current military strategy with the long-standing practice of the Coast Guard, which traditionally boards a ship to search for contraband, noting that Coast Guard statistics show drugs are absent in about 25% of boardings.
“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,” he stated. He also questioned the threat these boats, which he estimated are 2,000 miles away, pose to the U.S. mainland.
The core of the libertarian Republican’s critique centered on the constitutional authority for war. “It is the difference between war and peace,” Paul declared, insisting that the President is overstepping his bounds. “If they want all-out war where we kill anybody and everybody that is in the country of Venezuela or coming out, that has to have a declaration of war… Congress should vote. The president shouldn’t do this by himself.”
The conversation pivoted to President Trump’s recent public acknowledgement of authorizing a covert CIA operation inside Venezuela and his confrontational rhetoric toward Nicolás Maduro.
READ: Trump’s Fiery Warning To Maduro: ‘He Doesn’t Want To F*** Around With The United States’
When asked if he believes President Trump is seeking war with Venezuela, Senator Paul expressed uncertainty about the President’s true intentions but pointed to hawkish members of his administration. He also criticized the public announcement of the covert operation, saying, “not being a master of spy craft, if you announce that you’re going to have covert CIA action, it’s no longer covert.”
Senator Paul concluded by invoking historical warnings about military intervention and regime change, citing the ensuing “trillions of dollars of expenditures but also decades more of violence and instability and chaos” that followed the first Iraq War and the conflict in Libya. He noted that he had previously supported President Trump’s stance against regime change in those conflicts, cautioning that a war in Venezuela could lead to an unpredictable and chaotic outcome.
Senator Paul has been a leading Republican voice on the issue, previously co-sponsoring a War Powers Resolution with Democrats to block unauthorized military force in the region.
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