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Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks to supporters gathered at The Champions of Liberty Rally in Hebron, Ky., in August.(Photo: Bryan Woolston, AP)

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul is keeping up with his annual celebration of "Festivus" byairing silly and semi-serious grievances at political opponents and alliesahead of Christmas Day.

"You'll be surprised to learn I have some grievances with people in Washington, fellow members and others," Paul tweeted on Sunday. "Its time to talk about them now, because its the holiday season."

Author Daniel O'KeefecreatedFestivus, the made-up Dec. 23 holiday popularized in the late 1990s by the TV sitcom"Seinfeld." Itcalls on people to voice disappointments with others over the past year.

Paul has been doing this on Twitter since 2016.

Among the targets of Kentucky's junior senator this year were President Trump's staffing problems, Republican Sens. Lindsay Graham and Ted Cruz, neo-conservative"warmongers" and liberals, in general. He also addedhis take on whether "Die Hard" is a Christmas movie.

One person noticeably absent on Paul's list was Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, who mocked the senator at the annual Fancy Farm picnic this year for being beaten up by hisneighbor, Rene Boucher, a retired physicianwho attacked the senator last year over yard debris.

Paul suffered five broken ribs and bruised lungs, and Boucher was sentenced to 30 days for assaulting a member of Congress.

But few others are spared Paul's dry wit.

The annual mix of jokes and biting criticism confused some followers of the libertarian-leaning senator's Twitter feed. Among those who didn't get what was going on wasNew York Times reporterMaggie Haberman who asked:"What is happening with this feed today?"

"Same thing as every Festivus Maggie," Doug Stafford, Paul's chief strategist, tweeted in response. "Follow along."

Like everything on social media, there are mixed reactions to Paul's attempt at humor, with some appreciating his Gen-X '90s nostalgia while others consider it obnoxious fodder.

But it's clear that Paulisn't letting it go.

One moment of bipartisanshipthat could lead to actual policy change during Pauls "Festivus" rant were his tweets about criminal justice reform, which Congress approved before the year ended.

Paul worked closely with Democratic U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, of New Jersey, on the legislation, and the two want to go further in overhauling the federal system, including U.S. marijuana laws,at least according to their online exchange.

You may like: Mitch McConnell says Senate will vote on criminal justice reform bill

Read this: GOP deputy misleading McConnell on criminal justice bill, advocate says

Reporter Phillip M. Bailey can be reached at502-582-4475 orpbailey@courierjournal.com. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today:courier-journal.com/philb.

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Originally posted here:
Rand Paul airs his 'Festivus' grievances on Twitter

"I am happy to see a President who can declare victory and bring our troops out of a war,"Paul wrote in a tweet.

I am happy to see a President who can declare victory and bring our troops out of a war. Its been a long time since that has happened. https://t.co/fEBb8080fK

The White House said in a statement Wednesday that the U.S. has "started returning United States troops home" from Syria and claimed victory over the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

"These victories over ISIS in Syria do not signal the end of the Global Coalition or its campaign. We have started returning United States troops home as we transition to the next phase of this campaign. The United States and our allies stand ready to re-engage at all levels to defend American interests whenever necessary," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.

Trump on Twitter appeared to toutthe removal of troops as he declared victory over ISIS.

We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.

The decision was harshly criticized by Republicans including Rep. Adam KinzingerAdam Daniel KinzingerHillary Clinton slams Trump's Syria withdrawal: This President is putting our national security at grave risk Overnight Defense: Mattis stuns Washington with resignation | Letter highlights differences with Trump | Dems call exit 'scary' and 'bad news' | Trump defends Syria withdrawal | New reports say Trump weighing Afghan drawdown GOP lawmaker hits Trump after news of Mattis resignation: Thats what happens when you ignore sound military advice MORE (Ill.) and Sen.Lindsey Graham(S.C.), who said in a statement that removing troops would be an "Obama-like mistake."

"Staying there is an insurance policy against the reemergence of ISIS and destruction of our Kurdish allies who fought so bravely against them," said Graham, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

See original here:
Rand Paul praises US withdrawal from Syria | TheHill

The following is a transcript of the interview with Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky that aired Sunday, Nov. 18, 2018, on "Face the Nation."

MARGARET BRENNAN: We turn now to the news that the CIA has determined that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman personally ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul joins us now from Bowling Green. Senator, the president says a final conclusion will be made this week by the U.S. government, but in a Fox interview he indicated that essentially murder can be forgiven if the kingdom provides economic benefit. Listen to this exchange.

*CLIP*

CHRIS WALLACE: What if the Crown Prince, speaking to you the president of the United States, directly lied to you about--

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well that he told me that he had nothing to do with it. He told me that, I would say maybe five times at different points.

CHRIS WALLACE: But what if he's lying?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: As recently as a few days ago.

CHRIS WALLACE: Do you just live with it because you need him?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well will anybody really know, all right? Will anybody really know, but he did have certainly people that were reasonably close to him and close to him that were probably involved. You saw we put on very heavy sanctions massive sanctions on a large group of people from Saudi Arabia. But at the same time we do have an ally and I want to stick with an ally that in many ways has been very good.

*END CLIP*

MARGARET BRENNAN: What do you make of the president's remarks?

SENATOR RAND PAUL: Well you know the Crown Prince, his brother, made a phone call to Khashoggi, the dissident that was killed and dismembered, and that phone call was to tell Khashoggi, "Hey it's fine. You can go to the consulate no one will harm you." Well, you know, we have the Crown Prince's brother making that phone call. I think we have other intelligence that may link brother's phone calls back to the Crown Prince. I think the evidence is overwhelming that the Crown Prince was involved and so no I don't think we can sweep this under the rug. The thing about sanctions is that I think sanctions are pretending to do something without really doing anything. 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. 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 not only because of the killing but until they stop bombing civilian populations. Secretary Pompeo told Saudi Arabia three weeks ago stop bombing civilian populations. Since then Saudi Arabia has bombed cities 200 times, they're not listening--

MARGARET BRENNAN: --you're talking about in Yemen.

SEN. PAUL: --they're indiscriminately bombing civilians.

SEN. PAUL: Yes in Yemen.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You're talking about in Yemen. I should point out Saudi Arabia disputes the reporting that there is a- there was a phone call between Prince Khaled and Jamal Khashoggi. They say that's just not true. But given the CIA assessment overall that says there was a role, do you think this needs to trigger some other kind of change in policy? You're on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, are you going to try to block the appointment of the appointed ambassador?

SEN PAUL: Realize the Saudis have told us a lot of things that were untrue. They told us it was a fistfight that went bad, they have told us he was alive, they had a body double there to try to trick people into believing he was still alive. So 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--

MARGARET BRENNAN: --The President says that that's exactly why though, those arms sales are exactly why the relationship is important and he's not going to hurt the economic benefits.

SEN. PAUL: Here's my point. The arms sales don't make us safer. They make us less safe. When we sell arms to a foreign country, it should not ever be for jobs, it should be for our national security. The Saudis' involving us in their war in Yemen is a disaster. 17 million people live on the edge of starvation. If we get involved in another civil war in the Middle East, that's not good for our national security. That just drains our natural resources--

MARGARET BRENNAN: Can you do anything to stop it though?

SEN. PAUL: Yeah. Quit arming the Saudis. The Saudis are bombing to the tune of tens of thousands of bombs in Yemen--

MARGARET BRENNAN: But in Congress, is there anything you can do? Because the president says he's going to continue selling.

SEN. PAUL: Right. Yeah, I've introduced resolution after resolution to stop selling arms. We've done it twice and it's a privilege resolution meaning they can't prevent me from getting a vote. First time I got twenty something votes the second time with the help of a Democrat Senator Chris Murphy we got 47 votes. If we have another vote I think we could almost get to a veto proof majority, but guess what? They're not bringing any arms sales up right now--

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.

SEN. PAUL: --because they know we might beat them.

MARGARET BRENNAN: What about the ambassador who's been nominated here, General John Abizaid? You going vote to confirm him?

SEN. PAUL: I- I want to meet with him and I don't think that that really- my first impulse is not- that's not the way to sort of punish Saudi Arabia, by blocking an ambassador. I'm a big believer in dialogue and even with this I wouldn't stop trading oil with Saudi Arabia, but I would stop selling them arms. That's the first thing I would do. That doesn't disrupt trade, doesn't disrupt diplomacy. It just sends them a very strong message, we're not going to keep fueling your- your war in Yemen, which is a total disaster. And everybody saying there's no military solution and yet nobody's willing to do anything that would actually force Saudi Arabia to stop the war. If we were not refuel- not refueling, if we were not providing spare parts for their American made planes--

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.

SEN. PAUL: --the war would be over in a matter of months because you have to have a continuous supply of spare parts and people repair your planes and train your pilots. If we quit doing that, Saudi Arabia would quit bombing them within three or four months.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to get you on domestic policy. The president has put forward a- a- a proposal that has some bipartisan support on criminal justice reform. There's no guarantee it's going to be put to vote in the lame duck session and some of your fellow Republicans like Tom Cotton say this is just about letting felons out of jail. How do you respond?

SEN. PAUL: You know I've been- I've been working on criminal justice reform with Republicans and Democrats for six or seven years. I met with President Obama several times on this, bipartisan groups. We have a real chance to pass this now. With President Trump being in favor of- of this criminal justice reform, he came out publicly for it, really it only depends on one senator now. If Senator 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. Is it a jailbreak? No. It's saying people that have you know a nonviolent drug offense, that we don't keep them in jail for life. It's saying that 95 percent of people that get out of prison, when they get out of prison, do we want them to keep committing crimes or we should train them for jobs? Should we use programs to try to test whether or not we can teach people not to recommit crimes? And really do nonviolent people need to be in jail sometimes for life? We should--

MARGARET BRENNAN: So how--

SEN. PAUL: --reevaluate this.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So how do you force a vote? You're running out of time here.

SEN. PAUL: Well it- 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. In my state 86 percent of the people--

MARGARET BRENNAN: You're suggesting he's choosing not to?

SEN PAUL: --are behind this. The Fraternal Order of Police- Fraternal Order of Police are behind it. 2000 pastors, and I- I didn't get your follow up.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I said it-it-it seems like you're suggesting that he does not want to.

SEN. PAUL: There have been some articles, I haven't talked to him directly about it. The last time I talked to him about it, he said he was open to allowing a vote after the election.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay.

SEN. PAUL: Now with the President Trump- a-a-all in on this. I really hope we can get a vote but it's really up to Senator McConnell. But it's very very popular in Kentucky and very very popular with people who support President Trump so I hope he allows a vote.

MARGARET BRENNAN: We will watch for that. Thank you very much, Senator Paul.

SEN. PAUL: Thank you.

See the original post here:
Transcript: Sen. Rand Paul on "Face the Nation," Nov. 18 ...

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Dec. 10, 2018 / 7:21 PM GMT

By Dartunorro Clark and Rebecca Shabad

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul on Monday singled out Sen. Mitch McConnell as the one person who can make a vote on the criminal justice reform bill happen and called for public pressure on the majority leader.

Paul, speaking at the Louisville Urban League, said McConnell, the state's senior senator, is the one person who "has the power" to allow a vote on a criminal justice reform bill and said Louisville residents should call his office and say, "Please let us have this vote."

"I will tell you that we need the help of one person. The one person who had the power to allow this vote and I'm not saying he's stopping it but there is one person. He's from Louisville, he's fairly well known and he has the power to allow or disallow this vote," Paul said, referring to McConnell.

"There's no reason we shouldn't vote. So I would say if you're in Louisville, call and say, 'Senator McConnell, all we want is a vote'. It will pass overwhelmingly."

Paul has been a zealous advocate for Congress acting on criminal justice reform, often teaming up with unlikely Senate colleagues to bring changes to the system. Last year, Paul worked with Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris of California to introduce a bill that would reform the country's bail system.

In coordination with White House officials, lawmakers have been working on criminal justice reform for the first two years of the Trump administration. "The First Step Act" has the best chance of passing; it currently has 31 co-sponsors in the Senate, both Democrats and Republicans. The House version of the bill passed with overwhelming support in May.

The legislation would implement the most sweeping set of reforms to the system since the 1990s by shortening some long prison sentences and improving conditions for people in prison, among other things.

President Donald Trump tweeted over the weekend that he hopes McConnell will call for a vote on the measure.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a sponsor of the bill, tweeted last week that more than half of Senate Republicans support it.

"Ldr McConnell said he would need to have 60+ votes to bring criminal justice reform up & wanted to show large amount of Republican support. We have delivered. More than 1/2 of the Republican caucus supports the First Step Act LETS VOTE!" Grassley said.

Before the midterm elections, McConnell told reporters he would hold a vote on a criminal justice reform bill if it had enough votes 60 to overcome a filibuster.

McConnell spokesman Don Stewart had no comment to NBC News on Monday on Paul's remarks, and gave no indication whether McConnell would schedule a vote in the next two weeks.

Congress has two weeks left in its lame-duck session until lawmakers return to their districts. And before the new Congress is sworn in January, lawmakers are trying to tackle a number of outstanding items, including a must-pass spending package to avoid a government shutdown.

Some conservatives, including Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., oppose the criminal justice bill. Cotton said on Twitter that some of the provisions of the bill are too lenient, suggesting it would allow "repeat offenders with lengthy, violent histories" off the hook.

Dartunorro Clark reported from New York and Rebecca Shabad from Washington, D.C.

Dartunorro Clark is a political reporter for NBC News.

Rebecca Shabad is a congressional reporter for NBC News, based in Washington.

Here is the original post:
Rand Paul singles out McConnell on criminal justice bill ...

Lindsey Graham laughingly says his sudden embrace of of Rand Paul is a sign of what the Bible calls end times. Rand Paul jokes that their mind meld first needed couples counseling.

Long at odds when it comes to foreign policy, the South Carolina and Kentucky Republicans have discovered rare common ground: Fury over the role of Saudi Arabias crown prince in the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and frustration with the Trump administrations support for the kingdom.

The White House allies represent the hawkish and non-interventionist poles of the Republican Party. Just this summer Paul said Graham was a danger for leaving the door open to potential use of military force against North Korea. Graham shot back, There is no threat to America that Senator Paul will not retreat from.

But as a Republican-led Senate generally reluctant to challenge President Donald Trump prepares for a spirited debate over the next few days over how to deal with Saudi Arabia, Graham and Paul vividly illustrate the chambers extraordinary discontent with Trumps decision to side with the kingdom.

A Senate vote could come as soon as this week to condemn the Saudi government for a variety of alleged malfeasance, from its involvement in Yemen to its role in Khashoggis death.

Its a sign that this presidents foreign policy has gone badly askew when Rand Paul and Lindsey Graham are generally in agreement, said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, who serves with Paul on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and has been meeting with Graham to discuss legislative strategies for punishing Saudi Arabia.

Paul and Grahams partnership could help set the tone as the Senate looks to upbraid the administration. Lawmakers could vote on at least one of three proposals to register congressional displeasure with the Saudi government.

Its expected that one proposal will be a Graham-sponsored nonbinding resolution expressing a sense of the Senate that Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman helped orchestrate the journalists murder on Oct. 2 inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tennessee, the retiring Foreign Relations Committee chairman who said he believes a U.S. jury would render a guilty verdict on bin Salman in 30 minutes, said Grahams resolution or a version of it is expected to pass overwhelmingly, regardless of whether Graham and Paul throw their weight behind it.

Trump has seemingly disregarded CIA reports of the strong probability that the crown prince was behind Khashoggis brutal dismemberment and has warned against disrupting a partnership that has resulted in American jobs from Saudi arm sales.

Maybe he did and maybe he didnt, Trump said in a statement regarding whether bin Salman bore responsibility.

Its possible senators end up sending a measure to the presidents desk that would block U.S. arm sales to Saudi Arabia in retaliation against the kingdoms actions. There could also be a vote on legislation to end U.S. military support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, though that bill is unlikely to pass.

While Graham and Pauls support might not change Trumps mind on Saudi Arabia, together they could send a powerful message about just how far the presidents friends are willing to go to get what they want on this particular issue and that theyre working in tandem to do so.

This is not the first time the two men have agreed on controversial policies. Graham told McClatchy this past week he and Paul had both backed banning the U.S. militarys use of torture. And each is lobbying Republican leadership to pass legislation aimed at improving the federal prison system.

Paul pointed out that he and Graham also share a history of breaking from the president.

Hes been unafraid to stake his position despite what the presidents position is and so am I, Paul said of Graham. Usually its been on the opposite side, but this is a good thing were together.

Graham, who called their cooperation on Saudi Arabia a new world, joked that it was spelled out in the Bible, its the sign of the end times.

Were finding common purpose and fighting back against behavior thats so out of the norm that it cant be ignored, Graham said.

Paul, too, said the extraordinary nature of Khashoggis murder and Saudi Arabias response had brought the two together: Its an unusual set of circumstances to have someone butchered in a consulate. I think thats why youre seeing people come together because its so dramatic, its so dramatically wrong what Saudi Arabias doing.

After Paul complained about being excluded from a CIA briefing on the Khashoggi murder, Graham, who was invited to attend, stood up for his colleague. Later, Graham told McClatchy he would personally give Paul some details from that meeting, an unusual overture of collegiality between the two.

They still have differences on how to deal with the Yemen issue. Graham has been opposed to invoking the War Powers act to end U.S. support for the Saudi war in Yemen, and Paul supports taking such an action. Graham also voted with the majority last month to stop Pauls effort to prevent a $300 million sale of rocket launchers to Bahrain, a member of a Saudi-led coalition waging war in Yemen.

I dont think its one of us being right or wrong, its that we both have the same sort of strong belief that we cant let the Saudis do this, Paul said. Its a meeting of the minds and I think its good.

Its not always been so: Graham and Paul feuded on the national stage when they both ran for president in 2016, losing the nomination to Trump.

Before that, they clashed on Capitol Hill. In 2013, Graham ridiculed Paul for a 13-hour filibuster opposing President Barack Obamas drone program. In 2015, C-SPAN cameras captured Graham rolling his eyes as Paul spoke on the Senate floor against an expiring section of the 2001 Patriot Act that authorized new surveillance authorities on the American public.

In 2017, Paul called Graham a warmonger and called him out on Twitter for proposing that Congress exceed budget caps to increase defense spending. Graham reminded the social media universe that Paul opposed the GOPs last chance to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

As recently as this summer, Paul said Graham was a danger for leaving the door open to potential use of military force against North Korea. Graham shot back, there is no threat to America that Senator Paul will not retreat from.

Now, on Saudi Arabia, Graham and Paul might end up being strongest not just by agreeing with each other on principle but by actually working together.

While Graham acknowledged they might not have time to negotiate and pass legislation before the end of the year that would ban arm sales to the Saudis or impose other sanctions, he was hopeful he and Paul could be collaborators in the future.

Get Rand Paul, grow the coalition, Graham said.

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Rand Paul, Lindsey Graham find common ground on Saudi Arabia ...