4 months ago
9
ARTICLE AD BOX
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) called out Vice President JD Vance for defending the U.S. military bombing of a suspected drug vessel from Venezuela that killed 11 people.
On Saturday, Vance referenced the bombing, writing on social media, “Killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military.” When someone challenged that, calling the bombing a “war crime,” Vance wrote, “I don’t give a shit what you call it,” which elicited immediate backlash.
Rand mocked Vance’s response on social media and questioned if the vice president had ever read Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird,” seemingly pointing out the novel’s themes about prejudice.
“JD ‘I don’t give a shit’ Vance says killing people he accuses of a crime is the ‘highest and best use of the military,’ Paul wrote Saturday on social media. “Did he ever read To Kill a Mockingbird? Did he ever wonder what might happen if the accused were immediately executed without trial or representation?? What a despicable and thoughtless sentiment it is to glorify killing someone without a trial.”
Neither Paul’s office nor the White House immediately responded to a request for comment.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said President Donald Trump ordered the military to bomb the boat because American officials suspected it was importing illegal drugs from Venezuela to the U.S.
Rubio said Wednesday the military will continue to bomb suspected drug vessels.
“Instead of interdicting it, on the president’s orders, we blew it up — and it’ll happen again. Maybe it’s happening right now,” Rubio said.
Vance told reporters Wednesday that the people on the boat were “literal terrorists.” Experts told The New York Times that Venezuela “plays virtually no role in the fentanyl trade.”
Paul, who chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, was immediately outspoken and critical of the bombing, telling Newsmax on Wednesday that he isn’t sure America has the finances to be the “world’s policemen.”
“It’s hard to have any sympathy for drug dealers trying to import product into our country,” he said. “But at the same time, I guess, you might ask the question, ‘Where does it end? Are we the world’s policemen?’”
Paul argued that America’s legal system is set up to not “automatically assume guilt” and for suspects to have trials. He added that they could have been innocent “people fleeing Venezuela.”
PowerOurJournalism
Your SupportFuelsOur Mission
Your SupportFuelsOur Mission
Your membership fuels reporting that informs, inspires, and holds power accountable. Stand with us in this work – become a member now.
Join, Read, Impact
We remain committed to providing you with the unflinching, fact-based journalism everyone deserves.
Thank you again for your support along the way. We’re truly grateful for readers like you! Your initial support helped get us here and bolstered our newsroom, which kept us strong during uncertain times. Now as we continue, we need your help more than ever. We hope you will join us once again.
We remain committed to providing you with the unflinching, fact-based journalism everyone deserves.
Thank you again for your support along the way. We’re truly grateful for readers like you! Your initial support helped get us here and bolstered our newsroom, which kept us strong during uncertain times. Now as we continue, we need your help more than ever. We hope you will join us once again.
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
“I think probably that we had the facts correct, we got bad people here, but … it isn’t our policy just to blow people up,” he said. “We don’t blow up ships entering our waters unless they’re hellbent on attacking another ship or unless they are resisting with gunfire.”
English (US) ·