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Rand Paul speaking at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting on Capitol Hill, April 23, 2018. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) Sen. Rand Paul acknowledged that he had placed a hold on major funding legislation for Israel, saying he wanted time limits on assistance to the Jewish state.

The Kentucky Republican also said he wanted cuts in aid to countries he says are hostile to the United States.

While Im not for foreign aid in general, if we are going to send aid to Israel it should be limited in time and scope so we arent doing it forever, and it should be paid for by cutting the aid to people who hate Israel and America, Pauls office said in an statement emailed Tuesday to the media.

Paul said he planned to introduce an amendment to the legislation, the United States-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act of 2018, in coming days.The bill codifies into law the $38 billion defense aid package for Israel over 10 years that was negotiated in the final days of the Obama administration.

The Washington Free Beacon first reported Pauls hold, a parliamentary procedure that allows senators to prevent a motion from reaching a floor vote, and which usually is anonymous. The hold has been countered vigorously by major pro-Israel groups, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and Christians United for Israel, through online ads and action alerts to membership. CUFI has specifically targeted Paul through actions in Kentucky, including ads in newspapers there.

In his statement, Paul blamed AIPAC and other unnamed pro-Israel groups for not meeting his demands.

Each time Ive tried to stop giving aid to enemies of the U.S. and Israel, I have been thwarted. Often by groups that claim they are pro-Israel, he said. Why would supposedly pro-Israel groups oppose my legislation to end aid to the Palestinian Liberation Organization? Maybe its because they fear any debate on anyones foreign aid threatens a broader debate on whether we should be borrowing from foreign countries simply to send the money to other foreign countries.

AIPAC has in the past opposed radical cuts to the Palestinians, heeding in part Israeli security officials who say the assistance helps stabilize the region. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has recently endorsed President Donald Trumps wide-reaching cuts in assistance to the Palestinians. It is not clear yet whether AIPAC is on board with the cuts as well.

AIPAC also vigorously advocates for foreign assistance in general, which Paul opposes. The lobby believes broader foreign assistance is critical because it advances U.S. influence generally and builds support for Israel overseas, and because making Israel a special case while other countries are neglected does Israel no favors.

Asked about Pauls claims, AIPACs spokesman, Marshall Wittman, would only say, We believe it is critical for Congress to adopt this legislation before adjourning given the growing threats to Israels security from Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas.

CUFI noted in its statement that it has supported cuts to assistance to the Palestinians, and said the argument over those cuts were not germane to aid to Israel bill.

Sen. Pauls decision to hold this bill does not make America safer and does not ensure taxpayer dollars are used most efficiently quite the opposite, said CUFI Action Fund Chairwoman Sandra Parker. Aid to Israel provides the U.S. with an extraordinary return on investment.

The Senate passed the act in early August and the House of Representatives followed suit the following month. Now the Senate must pass a final version in line with the bill passed by the House.

The $38 billion deal negotiated in 2016 is the most generous ever to Israel. The act also expands a stockpile of weapons that the United States keeps in Israel, which may access the stockpile in wartime. It also enhances Israels qualitative military edge and urges space research cooperation between Israel and the United States.

Paul, a presidential candidate in 2016, alienated pro-Israel Republicans almost as soon as he became a senator in 2011, when he embraced his congressman fathers longtime call to cut defense assistance to Israel. The younger Paul later backtracked, saying he regarded Israel as a close ally, and would cut assistance only once it was clear the country was self-sufficient in its defense needs.

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Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.

The so-called Deep Stateof unelected bureaucrats whose agendas often are at odds with the best interest of theAmerican people isnt new.

But its drawing attentionas never before, and now Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is warning the Deep State is rising.

The Washington Examiner reportedPaul was reacting to a briefing by CIA Director Gina Haspel on the murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi in which only a select fewsenators were admitted.

This is the very definition of the Deep State, the Republican senator said. The Deep State is that the intelligence agencies do things, conclude things, make conclusions, but then the elected officials are prevented from knowing about this.

If we arent told about this and Im not allowed to know about these conclusions, then I cant have oversight the Deep State grows and has more and more power.

See video of Pauls remarks:

Members of theDeep Statewithin the Trump administration have been accused of leaking informationto harm the president politically.

Just this week,WND reportedsix Deep Statersallegedly tried to infiltrate the Trump campaignon behalf of the Obama administration.

Investigative journalists already have captured on video Deep State members boastingof undermining Trump.

Haspels meeting was with leaders of the Senate Armed Services, Foreign Relations, and Intelligence Committees.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattishas insisted there is no smoking gun tying Saudi Arabias crown prince to the death of Khashoggi.

But Paul said: Ive read in the media that the CIA has said with high confidence that the crown prince was involved with killing Khashoggi. I have not seen that intelligence nor have I even seen the conclusions. Today there is yet another briefing, and Im being excluded from that. So really, this is the Deep State at work that your representatives dont know whats going on in the intelligence agencies.

Trump has said he doesnt know if anyone can definitively conclude the crown prince was involved in the death of Khashoggi, who entered the Saudi consulate in Turkey and died shortly after.

Even famed Christian leader James Dobson, a counselor to five presidents and founder of both Family Talk and the James Dobson Family Institute,has said the Deep State in Washington must be confronted.

He describes the problem without using the term Deep State. He spoke instead of unelected bureaucrats and activist judges who are widely considered to be the core of the problem.

And he explained the nations Founders provided the solution, in Article V of the Constitution,which allows for a Convention of the States.

Its the alternative to proposing amendments to the U.S. Constitution that must be ratified by two-thirds of the states.

In a statement released by the James Dobson Family Institute with Tim Clinton and Jenna Ellis recently, Dobson said: Unfortunately, an insidious power grab has been underway in our nations capital for many years and it has inflicted great damage upon our constitutional republic. Unelected bureaucrats, activist judges, and the ever-expanding scope, reach and invasion of the federal government into the lives of all Americans has far surpassed what our Founders ever intended.

Thankfully the drafters of our Constitution built in safeguards to restore the size of government to its proper limits through amendments as outlined in Article V of the U.S. Constitution, the statement says.

Of the two paths an amendment can travel, all 27 have thus far been initiated in Congress. A Convention of States is the second path, which doesnt allow a rewriting of the Constitution as some have suggested, but rather allows the state legislatures to propose needed amendments to restrain the federal government when Congress fails to act.

The statement said the genius of our Founding Fathers is on full display in the Convention of the States Article V process, which empowers We the People at a local level to continue preserving and protecting the fundamental rights of every individual and keeping Americas limited government in check.

Thirty-four states must call a convention to order and already 12 have passed the petition. A Convention of the States can and should be called, it said.

Continued here:
Rand Paul: Deep State is rising - WND - WND

Rand Paul, byname of Randal Howard Paul, (born January 7, 1963, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.), American politician who was elected as a Republican to the U.S. Senate in 2010 and began his term representing Kentucky the following year. He sought his partys nomination in the U.S. presidential election of 2016.

Rand, the middle of five children, was the son of Ron Paul, a physician who, while serving in the U.S. House of Representatives (197677, 197985, and 19972013), helped swing the Republican Party rightward and toward libertarianism. Rand attended but did not graduate from Baylor University, leaving upon his admission to medical school at Duke University. He earned a medical degree in 1988, and he went on to specialize in ophthalmology. In 1989 he met Kelley Ashby, and they married two years later.

After about 15 years of working in partnerships and clinics, Paul established his own medical practice in Bowling Green, Kentucky. In 1997 he broke away from the medical board with oversight for certification in his field, the American Board of Ophthalmology, and founded a rival certification authority, the National Board of Ophthalmology. The latter group, the board of which was made up entirely of members of his family, disbanded in 2011. He was also active in the Lions Club International, which runs eye banks and offers humanitarian aid related to eye care around the world.

While a college student, Paul was involved in several conservative organizations, and he worked for his father during the 1988 U.S. presidential election, when his father was campaigning on the Libertarian Party ticket. In 1994 Paul founded the antitaxation group Kentucky Taxpayers United, with himself at the head. Two years later he helped his father defeat an establishment Republican candidate after the elder Paul decided to run for Congress after an absence of more than a decade.

In 2009, riding a wave of anti-Washington sentiment, Rand Paul took advantage of the unpopularity of incumbent Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky and announced that he was running for the seat. Bunning subsequently withdrew from the race, and Paul, aligned with the Tea Party movement, won the Republican primary. He then easily defeated the Democratic candidate in the 2010 general election, despite controversy over a campaign trail statement in which Paul questioned the constitutionality of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

With Utah Senator Mike Lee, Paul founded the Tea Party Caucus upon entering the Senate in 2011. He soon became a vocal opponent of his partys leadership and establishment Republicans. Among the issues he pursued were massive cuts in federal spending. Consistent with his generally libertarian position, Pauls proposed cuts involved not only social programs but also defense allocations. In addition, he sought the abolishment of all foreign aid. Although Paul generally voted on the losing side in arguments over the budget, he was an influential voice on some issues, such as the government shutdown of 2013. Adopting philosophically consistent but not ideologically rigid positions, he forged unlikely alliances with such groups as the American Civil Liberties Union and with such individuals as Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, with whom he introduced legislation softening mandatory minimum sentencing penalties in federal cases. In April 2015 Paul announced that he was entering the U.S. presidential election race of 2016. He suspended his campaign in February 2016.

Paul wrote the books The Tea Party Goes to Washington (2011; with Jack Hunter), Government Bullies: How Everyday Americans Are Being Harassed, Abused, and Imprisoned by the Feds (2012; with Doug Stafford), and Taking a Stand: Moving Beyond Partisan Politics to Unite America (2015).

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Rand Paul | United States senator | Britannica.com

Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky says the Trump administration's sanctions against 17 Saudi Arabian individuals for the death of Jamal Khashoggi will be viewed "as a sign of weakness" by the U.S., and reiterated his call to cut off arms sales to the country to punish the Saudi leadership.

"The thing about sanctions is that I think sanctions are pretending to do something without really doing anything," Paul said on "Face the Nation" Sunday. "Most of these people are in prison other than the crown prince. But the crown prince runs the country and we deal with him. If we put sanctions on people who are in prison. Are we really doing anything to punish them? They're already in prison.

"We need to punish who ordered this, who's in charge, and really the only thing they understand over there is strength," Paul added. "I think they will see sanctions as weakness on the part of the president and if the president wants to act strongly he should cut off the arms sale."

The CIA has concluded Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of Khashoggi. A U.S. official told CBS News Friday that U.S. intelligence has "high confidence" in its assessment that the crown prince ordered the killing.

"I think the evidence is overwhelming that the crown prince was involved," Paul said. "And so no, I don't think we can sweep this under the rug."

Paul, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said "the Saudis have been duplicitous since the very beginning. Do we need to do more? Yes, but at the very least we need to quit selling arms to people who are lying to us."

Paul's comments connecting Khashoggi's murder to the crown prince contrast with those from President Trump. In an interview with "Fox News Sunday," Mr. Trump said the Saudi heir had repeatedly denied being involved in the killing.

On domestic policy, Paul said he wants to press Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring up sentencing reform, a measure Mr. Trump supports.

"If Sen. Mitch McConnell, from my home state, will allow a vote, it gets 65 to 70 votes in the Senate. It'll be one of the most popular things to ever pass," Paul said. "It's all up to one person. Senator McConnell has the ability to call any vote he wants to anytime. He has promised in the past that he would allow this vote if there was popularity for it. President Trump is behind it."

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Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) takes no prisoners when it comes to our own government spying on citizens, and has hounded the FBI and the NSA for their overreach.

Paul is worried that there still exist some in the FBI and NSA that would abuse their power and he brought it up to FBI director Chris Wray during his hearing with Congress. This prompted the KentuckySenator to question Wray as to whether or not they or the NSA are currently listening in on Trumps phone calls.

According to Paul, Wray would not give him an answer as to whether or not they were, further solidifying Pauls assumptions that something is still not right in our intelligence community.

Paul then took to Twitter and tweeted out what happened to the public.

The FBI Director just testified in the US Senate, tweeted Paul. I asked him if @realDonaldTrump phone conversations are getting collected in the FISA database. He wouldnt answer. Is NSA or FBI listening in on our President? We know bad actors exist within intel community. REFORM NEEDED NOW

What Paul asked should be a simple yes or no question. It went unanswered.

Its not a large leap to believe that the NSA and the FBI are still spying on us if theyd be so bold as to spy on the President. That Wray would refuse to flat out answer Pauls question seems worrying.

If Pauls hunch is correct, then Congress should begin looking into things and weed out any bad actors that might be utilizing our own investigative organizations to collect data on people that they have no business collecting data on. If Trump is being surveilled without his knowledge, then this should be something Congress and the President should be interested in.

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