Rand Paul says Trump's Syria strike is 'an inappropriate way to begin a war'

"My concern has been mostly that this is an inappropriate way to begin a war, that the Constitution says war begins with a vote in Congress," Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said on CNN Saturday, reiterating his role as a chief critic of the Trump administration's strike against Syrian regime targets Thursday night.

"Even George Bush, who was often treated mercilessly by the media as being so far out there, he came to Congress and asked to go to war against the Taliban and those who attacked us on 9/11. He also did the same in Iraq," Paul continued. "And so I think this is a wrongheaded notion, that we just skip the most important step — and that is whether or not we should go to war."

Paul has repeatedly raised objections to the Syria strike on constitutional grounds, but he also questions the inherent merits of military intervention against the Bashar al-Assad regime. "Military action is not in our national security interest and should not be authorized," he wrote at Fox News on Friday. "Our prior interventions in this region have done nothing to make us safer, and Syria will be no different." Watch Paul's CNN comments in context below. Bonnie Kristian

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