Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., says Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., have "undue influence" on President Donald Trump when it comes to foreign policy.
"I think he's largely influenced by Marco Rubio, who has honestly been for regime change for a long time," Paul said on Stephen A. Smith's SiriusXM show, "Straight Shooter," on Thursday.
"And Lindsey Graham, who is very much the opposite of me, he is for intervening everywhere all the time around the world. And I think they both have an undue influence on him. And it would be good for him to maybe listen to some of his old speeches about being against regime change," Paul added.
Paul generally opposes U.S. military-driven regime change, favoring non-interventionism, less foreign entanglement, and restraint in using military force, as seen in his criticism of potential U.S. actions in Venezuela, advocating for congressional war powers, and questioning military interventions.
Earlier this month, he said U.S. actions in Venezuela amounted to war after U.S. forces captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
"I think bombing a capital and removing the head of state is, by all definitions, war," Paul told a gaggle of reporters.
"Does this mean we have carte blanche that the president can make the decision anytime, anywhere, to invade a foreign country and remove people that we've accused of a crime?"
"There is no question about the evils that were perpetrated on the people of Venezuela," Paul said. "But this is a question about the prerogatives of power."
He told Smith that no fentanyl comes from Venezuela "and those boats that we've been blowing up with the four outboard engines, they can't go more than about a hundred miles without refueling.
"It's 2,000 miles to our coast. So, the likelihood of any of those boats were coming towards our coast and nobody seems to care. This is what really appalls me.
"No Republican says, 'Do you care that they were unarmed or whether they were armed? Do we care that we blew up people clinging to a shipwreck when our military code of justice says you don't blow up people who are shipwrecked?'
"So, there's so many things, and I think in many ways they're different than the Donald Trump who said dozens and dozens of times he was against regime change."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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