Mediaboss Marketing

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."

2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Read the original:
Rand Paul on "Face the Nation" says Saudi Arabia considers ...

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.

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Read more:
Rand Paul Tweets on Frightening Exchange With FBI Director ...

Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) made a stunning revelation about what an attacker yelled as he fired on Republican members of Congress playing baseball in Virginia in a harrowing 2017 attack.This hasnt been reported enough

Paul was speaking on Fox and Friends Wednesday when he recalled what the attacker yelled during the violent assault, and made a direct connection to overheated rhetoric from the left.

I was there at the ball field when Steven Scalise (R-La.) almost died from a very, very angry violent man who was incited really by Rhetoric on the left, Paul said.

And this hasnt been reported enough, he continued, when he came on the field with a semi-automatic weapon firing probably close to 200 shots at us, shooting five people and almost killing Steve Scalise, he was yelling this is for healthcare.'

He also had a list of conservative legislators, republicans, in his pocket that he was willing to kill, he added.

So what happens is that when Democrats say get up in their face, they need to realize that there are a lot of unstable people out there, Paul explained. There are people with anger issues, there are people who are prone to violence.

They might even live next door to you, he added, referring to the attack from his neighbor that left him with 6 broken ribs.

But what we shouldnt do is incite people to violence, he concluded.Heres a video of Rand Pauls wife calling out the intimidation:

The attacker was killed on the scene and was later found to be likely motivated by his left-wing political agenda. He also had a disturbing history of violence against members of his own family.

Original post:
Rand Paul accuses the media of hiding a key detail about the ...

Sen. Rand PaulRandal (Rand) Howard PaulSenators warn Trump that Saudi relationship is on the line Trump Jr. slams Eric Holder: This is the party of 'tolerance' Scalise: Clinton, Holder comments on civility a 'direct threat to our democracy' MORE (R-Ky.)on Tuesday said lawmakers should tamp down their political rhetoric, warning that otherwise it could lead to violence.

Paul, during an interview with a Kentucky radio station, said he was concerned that there "is going to be an assassination," after a few tense weeks around the Capitol because of the Supreme Court fight.

"I really worry that someone is going to be killed and that those who are ratcheting up the conversation ... they have to realize that they bear some responsibility if this elevates to violence," Paul said.

"These are people that are unstable. We don't want to encourage them, he added. We have to somehow ratchet it down and say we're not encouraging them that violence is ever OK.

Paul was asked on the radio show about Sen. Cory BookerCory Anthony BookerDemocrats will never win if they condone all this raging hostility The Hill's Morning Report Presented by PhRMA Dem path to a Senate majority narrows Trump rails against Dems at Pennsylvania rally as Hurricane Michael batters Florida MORE (D-N.J.), who urged members of a group advocating for an end to homelessness to "get up in the face of some congresspeople and tell them about common sense solutions."

I think what people need to realize, that when people like [Sen.] Cory Booker say get up in their face, he may think that that's OK, Paul added. But what he doesn't realize is that for about every thousandth person that might want to get up in your face, one of them is going to be unstable enough to commit violence.

Paul's wife, Kelley Paul, wrote an op-ed to Booker in which she appeared to blame him for the threats and protests her husband has faced this past week. Booker's office argued, in a separate op-ed, that his remarks are being taken out of context and that he "has nothing but respect and admiration" for Paul and his family.

Hundreds of protesters flooded the Senate office buildings in opposition to Brett KavanaughBrett Michael KavanaughSenate heads home to campaign after deal on Trump nominees Man charged with sending Feinstein email threatening her life Progressives furious about Senate judicial nominee deal MORE's Supreme Court nomination. The heated debate led to Republican senators, and some Democrats, being confronted by activists in hallways around Capitol Hill, at D.C.-area airports and restaurants and in their cars.

Several GOP senators were escorted to votes or committee hearings by Capitol Police, and many have said that they or their staffs received threatening or "vulgar" calls or mail during the confirmation process.

Read this article:
Rand Paul on political climate: 'I really worry that ...

Following the bitterly partisan,acrimonious confirmation battle over Associate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., warned in an interview on Tuesday that heated political rhetoric has the potential to turn deadly.

"I fear that there's going to be an assassination," Paul told a Kentucky radio show. "I really worry that somebody is going to be killed, and that those who are ratcheting up the conversation ... they have to realize they bear some responsibility if this elevates to violence."

Paul's comments came the same day former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton declared that Democrats "cannot be civil" with Republicans any longer.

Paul's wife,Kelley, revealed in aBreitbart News interview on Friday that she sleeps with a "loaded gun by my bed," has updated her home's security system and has "deadbolts all around my house." Kelley also wrote an op-ed published by CNN in which she called on Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., to tone down his rhetoric; in June, Booker suggested his supportersget up in the face of congresspeople.

The Kentucky senator reiterated his wife's criticism on Tuesday. "When people like Cory Booker say get up in their face ... What he doesn't realize is that for every 1,000 persons who want to get up in your face, one of them is going to be unstable enough to commit violence," Paul said.

"I fear that there's going to be an assassination."

Last week, Paul was chased and verbally harassed by anti-Kavanaugh activists at Washington's Reagan National Airport. And last fall, Paul was attacked and beaten in his yard in Kentucky by his neighbor -- an episode that a Kentucky Democrat joked about earlier this year.

Paul was attending the congressional baseball practice last summer when a gunman opened fire, hittingHouse Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., in the hip and injuring two Capitol police officers and an aide. The episode was very nearly a "massacre," lawmakers said.

"When I was at the ballfield and Steve Scalise was nearlykilled, the guy shooting up the ballfield, and shooting I think five or six people, he was yelling, 'This is for health care,'" Paul told host Leland Conway on Tuesday. "When I was attacked in my yard and had six of my ribs broken, and pneumonia, lung contusion, all that -- these are people that are unstable, we don't want to encourage them."

REPUBLICAN SENATOR RECEIVES GRAPHIC TEXT MESSAGE OF BEHEADING, SEES PERSONAL INFORMATION LEAKED AFTER 'YES' VOTE ON KAVANAUGH

The uncorroborated sexual assault accusations against Kavanaguh, Paul said, didn't justify keeping him off the Supreme Court, much less the partisan rancor surrounding his confirmation. (Paul, who was initially skeptical about Kavanaugh's constitutional views on privacy, ultimately became one of the 51 senators who supported his confirmation.)

"We don't want this to be the standard, that anyone can accuse anybody of anything," he continued."That would sort of be the standard they had in Venice in the 15th century, when people would put their complaints into the mouth of the lion .... And you'd put your complaint in, and people would lose their head over that."

Paul then echoed President Trump's comments at a ceremonial swearing-in for Kavanaugh in the East Room on Monday evening, as well as dramatic remarks by Maine moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins last week. The president apologized to Kavanaugh "on behalf of our nation" and, before thanking Collins, emphasized that "in our country, a man or a woman must always be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty."

"You are presumed to be innocent," Paul agreed. "I just feel really sorry for Kavanaugh and his wife and his children for having to go through that."

Hundreds of protesters have been arrested by Capitol Police in the past three weeks, with some briefly staying in jail. Kavanaugh, his family, his accusersand lawmakers all received death threats.

WATCH: MOB CHANTING 'WE BELIEVE SURVIVORS'ACCOSTS TED CRUZ, WIFE INSIDE D.C. RESTAURANT

STAFFERS AT RESTAURANT GET DEATH THREATS AFTER TED CRUZ, WIFE HARASSED INSIDE

Protests outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday, the first day Kavanaugh publicly sat on the bench for oral arguments, were relatively sparse. On Saturday, when Kavanaugh was formally sworn in, demonstrators outside banged on the Supreme Court's doors and attempted to claw their way inside.

And ateacher in Minnesota announced she had resignedthis week after asking on Twitter, "So whose gonna take one for the team and kill Kavanaugh?" Supreme Court justices receive protection from the Supreme Court Police and the U.S. Marshals Service while in Washington, D.C.,although they must ordinarily request protection on domestic or international trips outside that metropolitan area.

On Tuesday, President Trump suggested some of thedemonstraters in the nation's capital were paid to protest, and were angry primarily because "they haven't gotten their checks." Some of the anti-Kavanaugh protesters who accosted senators on Capitol Hill have ties to liberal billionaire George Soros.

A27-year-oldDemocratic congressional intern was arrested last week and accused of posting the personal information of at least one Republican senator during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Kavanaugh. The intern, who has since been fired, was denied bail on Tuesday.

Also speaking in a radiointerview on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he was proudof his Republican colleagues for standing up to what he called "mob tactics" during the Kavanaugh confirmation battle.

McConnell also said that he would have no problem appointing a conservative justice in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election if Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg were to retire from the bench. He distinguished that hypothetical from the situation withfailed Obama nominee Merrick Garland in 2016 because at that time, different parties controlled the White House and the Senate.

WATCH: NANCY PELOSI COMPARES KAVANAUGH TO NORTH KOREAN DICTATOR KIM JONG UN

"It will depend largely if the Senate is in Republican hands or Democratic hands," McConnell said, saying it is exceedingly rare for a lame-duck president whose party does not control the Senate to nominate a Supreme Court justice.

"I think they overplayed their hand."

The GOP is currently favored to retain control of the Senate after November's midterm elections, buoyed in part by a newly energized base after the Kavanaugh fight.

FOX NEWS POLLS SHOW MAJOR GOP BOOST IN KEY SENATE BATTLEGROUNDS WITH LESS THAN A MONTH BEFORE MIDTERMS

"This has been like a shot of adrenaline to Republican voters who probably were not as interested or energized in an off-year election with the president not on the ballot," McConnell said. "I think they overplayed their hand. I think the tactics turned off people and turned on our base."

Original post:
Rand Paul warns of 'assassination' peril after Kavanaugh ...