Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is against foreign aid, U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and impeaching President Trump, he told CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday's State of the Union. His argument against impeachment was that the effort is "partisan" and baseless, because Trump asked Ukraine's president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden as "a person" tied to corruption, not his leading 2020 presidential rival. Tapper wasn't buying it, and that made for some pretty good television.
Tapper rattled off a list of close Trump associates recently convicted of federal corruption-related crimes, including his 2016 campaign chairman and his former personal lawyer, then noted that Trump himself had to pay $25 million to resolve Trump university fraud charges and, just last week, another $2 million for raiding his charity for personal use. "You really think President Trump is concerned about rooting out corruption?" Tapper asked Paul — twice, the second time adding: "Just a yes or no. Is that something you really believe?" Paul eventually landed on yes, kind of.
"So just to be clear," Tapper pressed: "This precedent that you are prepared to set, you would be okay with a president, say, Elizabeth Warren asking a foreign government to investigate her top Republican rival as long as there was some sort of allegation about that Republican rival having some sort of connection to allegations of corruption?" Paul said that framing is "completely untrue," because "Trump didn't call up the president of Ukraine and say 'Investigate my rival' ... He says investigate a person." "He said investigate Joe Biden," Tapper said. "And Joe Biden is his rival. ... He didn't say investigate Burisma, or go investigate all the corrupt companies in your country."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Also:
That seems unfair to Jared Kushner.
-
The 9 restaurants to eat at this very momentThe Week Recommends They’re award-winning. Isn’t that reason enough?
-
The UK’s opioid crisis: why the stats don’t add upThe Explainer A new report has revealed that the UK’s total of opioid-related deaths could be much greater than official figures show
-
Gaza genocide: will UN ruling change anything?Today's Big Question Commission of Inquiry’s findings ‘give unprecedented weight’ to genocide claims
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to TrumpSpeed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raidsSpeed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raidSpeed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearingSpeed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mountSpeed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own listspeed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battleSpeed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants
