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Republican Senator Rand Paul said Sunday he would do everything to stop President Donald Trumps nominations of Mike Pompeo for secretary of State and Gina Haspel for CIA director, but conceded he may not be able to stop them.

Paul, a Kentucky Republican, said on CBS News Face the Nation that he wants someone whos not advocating for war, particularly against Iran and North Korea, rather than Pompeo,the current CIA director.

Trump named Pompeo, a former Republican representative from Kansas, to replace Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. The president fired Tillerson on March 13 in a Twitter message.

Paul also objected to Haspels overseeing of CIA black sites where waterboarding occurred in the early 2000s. I dont think torture is what Americas about, Paul said in one of three appearances on Sunday talk shows.

The Senator also spoke out against Haspel in an editorial published by Politico on Sunday. Some details may be disputed, but it remains true that Haspel ran a secret center in Thailand where prisoners were tortured, he wrote. There is no question that during her career, Haspel participated in and and helped develop the program that our own government has labeled torture.

On CBS he conceded that that he doesnt have the power to stop her nomination if she gets enough votes.

Also on CNN, fellow Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said that Pauls opposition makes him an outlier within the Republican Party.

Pompeo and Haspel are both qualified and should be confirmed, Graham said.

Still, Haspel, 61, whos currently Deputy Director of the CIA, will need to acknowledge that waterboarding is no longer allowed by federal law, Graham said.

With assistance by Mark Niquette

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Rand Paul Issues Filibuster Threat on Trumps State and CIA ...

In his first Sunday show appearance since he was injured in analtercation with his neighborat his home in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Republican Sen. Rand Paul said he was in "living hell" due to broken ribs and other serious complications. Paul told John Dickerson that he couldn't get out of bed without help for weeks following the incident in November.

Paul discussed the altercation and weighed in on several hot-button issues in Washington, including President Trump's fitness for office and the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA.

The following is a transcript of the interview with Paul that aired Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018, on "Face the Nation."

JOHN DICKERSON: And we're back with Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul. It's good to have you back, senator. We hope you've fully recovered and, by the way, happy birthday, as well.

RAND PAUL: Thank you, thank you. I was wondering if I'd get any presents today, but I understand that the ethics rules of the Senate won't let me take any presents, but thanks for having me on.

JOHN DICKERSON: That's all right. Well, your presence is our present. Thank you. How are you feeling by the way?

RAND PAUL: A little bit better each day. It was sort of I guess a living hell for the first four or five weeks. Couldn't get out of bed without assistance, six broken ribs, damage to my lungs, two bouts of pneumonia. It was really a tough go of it. But each day I feel a little bit better. This last month I've been doing better.

JOHN DICKERSON: You haven't talked about the motivation for this, but there is an increase. In politics today, things have gotten a little bit uglier. Was that a part of what happened here, and do you talk about that with your colleagues?

RAND PAUL: My colleagues come up all the time, and they want to make sure that there is some kind of deterrent because people don't want to think that it's open season on our elected officials. I was also at the baseball field when we were shot at with semi-automatic fire, and Steve Scalise was severely wounded, and I was ten feet from a young staffer who was shot in the leg.

So yeah, I've been involved in violent attacks twice in the last year. And so, we're very aware of it. And I think one of the things about motivations is people got obsessed, some in the media, about the motivations. But I think really we usually don't ask if someone's raped or mugged or whatever why the person did it. We want punishment and deterrents. And I guess that's what I'm mostly about. I just don't think of any kind of motivation or justification, whether it's political or personal, to attack someone who's unaware from behind in their own yard.

JOHN DICKERSON: Sure. Although, if it's politically motivated, those who are involved in politics might think about changing the way they behave to change that climate.

RAND PAUL: Maybe, maybe.

JOHN DICKERSON: Let me ask you about the climate here in Washington. This new book about the White House, a lot of debate about it. As a politician, the president has responded by talking about his mental stability. Why do you suppose he did that when, instead, he could say: "Forget this book. We've passed tax cuts, we're defeating ISIS, we've nominated a bunch of judges." Why do you think he did that?

RAND PAUL: You know, I don't know. I guess my first response was this was sort of a gossipy book, kind of like a Kitty Kelley book back from when I was in high school. I remember her books would come out and nobody really believed them. They were treated as like a sitcom or treated as a television show.

They weren't really treated seriously by the media. I do think, from my experience, when I look at the president, I've been around the president quite a bit, I've been in the White House quite a bit with him. I can give you one example that I think really shows his great insight and ability to cut through to the chase and do things that ordinary politicians don't do.

And that's when I took him the idea of letting individuals join together to buy insurance across state lines. Every politician, Republican and bureaucrat in Washington, said we couldn't do it, and they hadn't done it in 30 years. He looked at the original law, he told his lawyers, "Look at the original law and see if the interpretation of these previous government attorneys have been correct."

And he had the wherewithal just to say: "No. We're going to let individuals join these groups so they can get cheaper insurance and perhaps better insurance as well and perhaps get insurance for people who don't have insurance." But he did that because he's different than any other politician.

And now we have all these wiseacres out there wanting to criticize and be presumptuous about trying to judge someone's intelligence. I can tell you, he's got the wherewithal to do things that no politician's been able to do and in a good way.

JOHN DICKERSON: Let me ask you a couple of policy questions. We talked about section 702 of the FISA with the C.I.A. director. You have held up a nomination of John Demers, and you're also talking about filibustering this. Why?

RAND PAUL: 702 is supposed to get information on foreigners. And so, we have a lower than constitutional standard. We say, "Well, the constitution doesn't apply to people in other countries." And I agree with that. So, we collect a massive amount of information on foreigners.

But they talk to Americans. So, after you gather millions and billions of bits of information, it turns out there's a lot of Americans in the database. What we don't want to happen is that domestic law enforcement, police and F.B.I. are looking in a database that was collected without constitutional protections.

And let's say they decide to prosecute medical marijuana people in Colorado, which is legal in Colorado, but now the federal government's talking about changing their policy and going after them, what if they're searching a database that was collected on foreigners to get incidental information on medical marijuana in Colorado? I have a real problem with that. So, they should have to get a warrant before they look at that. And really, none of that information should be used for domestic crime, because it was gathered with a less than constitutional standard.

JOHN DICKERSON: So, you have a problem with it. What are you going to do?

RAND PAUL: Well, we'll try to stop them. The people on the other side, the C.I.A. director and others, they want permanent reauthorization, no reform. And when you ask them, "Are you using this for domestic crime?" They kind of say, "Well, we don't do it very often." But they won't tell you where they're sort of looking at the information and then not presenting it in court but using that information to develop what's called parallel construction to develop cases.

They want just permanent reauthorization, which to me means no more oversight by Congress. The reason we need more oversight is that people, as Madison said, "Men are not angels." And we've seen recently how we've had some people in the F.B.I. that had bias against the president.

We also have seen now people in the Department of Justice who were married to people that were doing opposition research on Trump. So, you can see how people are human and bias could enter into this. And the history of the C.I.A. and the F.B.I. are not without blemish.

The Hoover years are a great tarnish. We also had civil rights activists in '60s illegally spied upon. We had Vietnam protesters illegally spied upon. And we had this great to-do, the Church commission, back in the '70s, and FISA was supposed to reign that in.

But now many of us, Senator Wyatt and I have in a bipartisan way looked at this and said, "My goodness, we have to defend the American's right to privacy." And right now, we've sort of a minority in the Senate. In the House, though, it's close to 50/50.

JOHN DICKERSON: All right Senator, we're going to have to leave it there. Thanks so much and happy birthday again.

RAND PAUL: Thank you.

JOHN DICKERSON: And we'll be back in a moment.

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Transcript: Sen. Rand Paul on "Face the Nation," Jan. 7, 2018

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., introduced legislation on Thursday that would repeal a 1990 law banning guns from school zones, a move that fits with his push to arm teachers and other school personnel so they can prevent school shootings like the one that took place in Florida last month.

Paul's bill would repeal the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 and all amendments to that law.

The law bans weapons in and around all public and private K-12 schools, with limited exceptions. Its supporters say the law is needed to reduce violence at schools.

But Paul is a long-time advocate of allowing some teachers to be armed, and has argued along with other conservatives that current law makes schools easy targets for mass shootings.

In early 2013, just weeks after the Sandy Hook shooting that left 26 people dead, including 20 elementary school kids, Paul said it was time to arm teachers.

"If my kids were at that school, I would have preferred that the teacher had concealed-carry and had a gun in her desk," Paul said then, according to USA Today.

"Is it perfect? No. Would they always get the killer? No. Would an accident sometimes happen in a melee? Maybe. But nobody had any defense, and he just kept shooting until he was tired and he decided to shoot himself," he said of the Connecticut shooting.

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Rand Paul wants to repeal federal gun-free school zones

Is Sen. Rand Paul the new Steve Bannon, the former Trump aide who promised to wage a season of war on the Republican establishment and champion like-minded conservatives?

Paul, a Kentucky Republican, has endorsed two Senate candidates who definitely aren't favorites of GOP standard bearers: Kelli Ward in Arizona and Mike Gibbons in Ohio.

Ward has suggested Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who is battling brain cancer, should quit the Senate as soon as possible and Gibbons is a novice businessman up against a sitting congressman who has President Donald Trump and the Ohio Republican party's stamp of approval.

The Paul endorsements come as Senate Republicans are playing offense on a Senate map that strongly favors them. The GOP is eager to avoid messy primary battles that could benefit Democrats who see bright prospects for taking control of the chamber in November.

A Paul spokesman for Paul brushed aside concerns that the senator could complicate Republican efforts.

"Senator Rand Paul believes that we must elect individuals who will break the current mold of bigger government, more debt and endless foreign intervention," spokesman Sergio Gor said, adding that Paul looked forward to welcoming Ward to the Senate.

The Arizona seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Jeff Flake is one that Democrats are hoping to flip. Republicans are mired in a messy three-way race with Ward, immigration hardliner Joe Arpaio and Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz. McSally is the front-runner and presumed establishment favorite.

In Ohio, Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown is looking to fend off a challenge from Rep. Jim Renacci, R-Ohio, who dropped out of the race for governor last month and launched a Senate bid. Paul endorsed Cleveland businessman Gibbons, calling him a fiscal and constitutional conservative.

Paul campaigned Friday night for Ward in Arizona, railing against his fellow Republicans for supporting a recent spending bill he had protested on the Senate floor. He derided McSally as Martha McSpender, calling her a "fake conservative" and a RINO or Republican In Name Only.

If you elect the establishment candidate, you are going to get more of the same, Paul told a crowd in Scottsdale. You need someone with the courage of their convictions. If they do not have the courage of their convictions, they will be a rubber stamp for leadership.

Bannon had pledged to boost a number of hardline conservative GOP primary challengers, worrying more mainstream Republicans, given his close ties to Trump and access to deep-pocketed donors. His influence largely collapsed last month after Trump repudiated him in the wake of a book which quoted Bannon as harshly critical of the presidents family.

Pauls endorsements havent sparked the same level of concern, Republican strategists said. While Pauls supporters are ardent, his influence is limited, particularly in races where Trump has endorsed. Rand Paul, who unsuccessfully sought the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, and his father Ron, a former Texas congressman and Republican presidential candidate, have found pockets of strong support but outside of their home terrain have not been able to develop a broader constituency.

He marches to his own drummer in a way thats really unique and I dont think that surprises anybody, said veteran Republican strategist Doug Heye. He views the world from a slightly different lens that most of his Republican colleagues.

Its just Rand being Rand, said Scott Jennings, a Republican political consultant who has worked for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. When Obama was president, people were looking to (Paul) on some occasions to see where the non-establishment is, but with the president in the room, I think people care most about where he (Trump) is.

McConnell acknowledged in a New York Times interview Friday that the party could lose seats in the House and Senate, given Democratic enthusiasm and Trumps unpopularity. Officials at the McConnell-affiliated Senate Leadership Fund, which spent nearly $86 million in the November 2016 election to benefit Republicans, declined to comment. But Jennings said Pauls picks are not an issue for McConnell, Pauls fellow Kentucky Republican.

Hes used to it, Jennings said of McConnells view of Pauls propensity to go his own way. The greater annoyance would be if the president were doing this sort of thing.

Trump is increasingly in line with McConnell. On Monday, the president endorsed Mitt Romney for the open Senate seat in Utah, calling him a worthy successor to Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Republican whom Trump had urged not to retire. The endorsement came three days after McConnell called on Trump to back Romney's bid for the seat.

Given the overall landscape of how this could have gone, hes overall pretty happy with the way things are setting up, Jennings said, noting that Bannon could have played a disruptive role. McConnell and Trump are essentially aligned on all of these Senate races and we dont have an antagonist that has the imprimatur of the president out there trying to upend what youre trying to do.

Continued here:
Rand Paul endorsing anti-establishment Senate candidates ...

Rand PaulRandal (Rand) Howard PaulPentagon: War in Afghanistan will cost billion in 2018 Overnight Finance: Senators near two-year budget deal | Trump would 'love to see a shutdown' over immigration | Dow closes nearly 600 points higher after volatile day | Trade deficit at highest level since 2008 | Pawlenty leaving Wall Street group Rand Paul calls for punishment if Congress can't reach a long-term budget deal MORE seems to revel in frustrating fellow members of the Senate and that makes his blatant disregard for the chambers chummy protocols even more infuriating to them.

Paul, the junior senator from Kentucky, appeared to thumb his nose at fellow Republicans Thursdaynight when he posed for a picture with conservative Reps. Justin AmashJustin AmashOvernight Defense: House votes to renew surveillance program | More drones, troops headed to Afghanistan | Former officers urge lawmakers to curb Trump's nuclear powers Overnight Tech: House votes to reauthorize surveillance powers | Twitter on defensive after Project Veritas video | Senate panel to hold hearing on bitcoin Overnight Cybersecurity: House votes to renew NSA spying | Trump tweets spark confusion | Signs Russian hackers are targeting Olympics | Bannon expected to appear before House Intel panel MORE (R-Mich.) and Thomas MassieThomas Harold MassieHouse Republicans' bill would redirect Pakistan aid money to US infrastructure House stays in DC despite threats from GOP leaders Live coverage: Federal government on brink of shutdown MORE (R-Ky.) just off the Senate floor.

They posed with their arms folded, grinning for the camera in the midst of a government shutdown fight that Paul himself had triggered.

The snapshot was especially galling to Republicans because the trio posed in front of the Senate portrait of Henry Clay, the 19th century Kentucky senator known as the "Great Compromiser. Clay is the historical hero of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnellAddison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellDems confront Kelly after he calls some immigrants 'lazy' McConnell: 'Whoever gets to 60 wins' on immigration Overnight Defense: Latest on spending fight - House passes stopgap with defense money while Senate nears two-year budget deal | Pentagon planning military parade for Trump | Afghan war will cost B in 2018 MORE (R-Ky.), who negotiated the budget deal that Paul was trashing.

[Paul is] the perennial annoying gadfly with no positivity associating with it. What he did didnt change the outcome. Hes all about grandstanding, said a Senate Republican aide.

Taking selfies with Justin Amash and Thomas Massie he just is the perennial annoyance, the aide added. Hes here to go on television and thats what he kept doing. Its about self promotion.

Al Cross, a journalism professor at the University of Kentucky and a longtime commentator on Kentucky politics, said Pauls actions likely dont sitwell with the GOP leader, even if he doesnt say anything about it publicly.

Theres no doubt that it gets his nose out of joint, but hes dealt with Rand Paul for a long time and hes pretty accustomed to it, Cross said of McConnell.

But Paul doesnt care if hes making his colleagues uncomfortable.

He says he wouldnt have delayed the budget deal if GOP leaders had merely allowed him a vote on restoring the spending caps that the deal was setting aside.

Leaders said if they allowed Paul a vote other senators would then demand votes on their own amendments, delaying the bill even longer.

Still, many Republicans didn't want to vote against reimposing spending caps that they had declared a major victory only a few short years ago, when they fought with the Obama administration over spending cuts.

You could feel the frustration and embarrassment growing in Congress as we exposed the hypocrisy of Republicans who are joining in an unholy alliance and spending free-for-all with Democrats, Paul tweetedThursdaynight.

Members of the Senate are accustomed to the opposing party forcing them to take tough votes, rather than a member of their own conference.

Senate Republican Whip John CornynJohn CornynDems confront Kelly after he calls some immigrants 'lazy' McConnell: 'Whoever gets to 60 wins' on immigration GOP senators turning Trump immigration framework into legislation MORE (R-Texas) fumed that Pauls tactics were grossly irresponsible and bad behavior that he didnt want to reward by making any concessions.

Senate Republican Conference Chairman John ThuneJohn Randolph ThuneOvernight Tech: Uber exec says 'no justification' for covering up hack | Apple considers battery rebates | Regulators talk bitcoin | SpaceX launches world's most powerful rocket Apple tells senator it may give rebates to consumers who bought iPhone batteries Republican agenda clouded by division MORE (S.D.) called it a colossal waste of everyones time.

Sen. Ron JohnsonRonald (Ron) Harold Johnson40 patient advocacy groups oppose 'right to try' drug bill GOP eyes changes to 'right to try' bill Hundreds sign on to letter opposing 'right to try' drug bill MORE (R-Wis.) called the whole episode another example of the Senates dysfunction, labeling it ridiculous.

But Paul gets energy from riling up his colleagues on points of principle and refused to back down, even though it was clear that the budget deal had the votes to pass.

Theyre mad that they have to do their jobs, said Brian Darling, a GOP strategist and former Paul aide.

Darling said his former boss doesnt care about upsetting his fellow senators.

He cares more about doing the right thing, not going along to get along. Members were really angry with him but he has the right to do what he did.

Congress waits until the last minute to do their appropriations bill and then challenges a single member to object. Theyre doing this on purpose to bully members to get bad bills passed, he said.

Paul doubled downFridaywith an op-ed that called his colleagues hypocrites.

We now control the House, Senate and White House, and we should stand for less government and less spending, he wrote in Time. Instead, we see a massive increase that would make President Obama cringe.

Paul said he expected a lot of tired staffers would try to feed media stories about how I wouldnt play nice with them and let them get their massive spending bill in secret.

He said didnt regret how things played out.

People tuned in to TV, followed on social media, and had the debate trending number one all night, he noted.

Thursdaywas only the latest example of Paul sticking his finger in the eye of Republicans leadership.

He was a thorn in the side of leaders during last years health-care debate, when he declared on television the GOP plan to repeal and replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act was ObamaCare-lite and a bailout" for insurance companies.

At one point, he accused Speaker Paul RyanPaul Davis RyanMcConnell: 'Whoever gets to 60 wins' on immigration Overnight Defense: Latest on spending fight - House passes stopgap with defense money while Senate nears two-year budget deal | Pentagon planning military parade for Trump | Afghan war will cost B in 2018 House passes stopgap spending measure with defense money MORE (R-Wis.) of selling a bill of goods to President TrumpDonald John TrumpTillerson: Russia already looking to interfere in 2018 midterms Dems pick up deep-red legislative seat in Missouri Speier on Trump's desire for military parade: 'We have a Napoleon in the making' MORE in the health-care debate.

Paul was later one of a handful of Senate Republicans to vote against the ObamaCare repeal and replace plan that passed the House, and that McConnell had spent weeks negotiating with his conference.

In December, Paul panned the short-term spending proposal that GOP leaders advanced to keep the government open as reckless deficit spending.

For Paul, playing the role of maverick is good politics.

A Mason-Dixon poll of registered voters in Kentucky in December showed that he has a substantial better job rating than McConnell, the ultimate Republican team player.

The survey showed Paul with a 44 percent job approval rating, while only 30 percent approved of McConnells performance.

Pauls one-man revolt on the budget deal was also a hit with conservatives.

A senator has an ability to be a voice and not just a vote, said Daniel Horowitz, senior editor of Conservative Review. Hes able to give to the forgotten man the average American taxpayer.

When the political class of both parties get together and decide theyre going to get a specific outcome theres no way to thwart that outcome in the short run. But the only thing worse than screwing taxpayers is screwing them and having no one find out about it, he added.

Senators thoughtThursdaywould be a routine day after McConnell and Senate Democratic Leader Charles SchumerCharles (Chuck) Ellis SchumerGOP lawmaker: Dems not standing for Trump is 'un-American' Trump called for unity he didnt even last a week Overnight Defense: GOP plays hardball by attaching defense funding to CR | US reportedly drawing down in Iraq | Russia, US meet arms treaty deadline | Why the military wants 6B from Congress MORE (N.Y.) announced they had reached a two-year budget deal that gained swift support from Ryan in the House.

They needed consent from everyone in the chamber to speed up the procedural clock and vote in the morning and afternoon in time to catch flights back home for an early weekend.

But Paul surprised them all by digging in his heels and delaying a vote until1:30 a.m.after McConnell refused to give in to his demand for a separate vote on budget caps.

The frustration with Paul spread to the other side of the Capitol, where members of the House had to stay on call until5 a.m.Fridaymorning to receive the bill and pass it, something they expected to happen hours earlier.

One frustrated Republican lawmaker, Rep. Charlie DentCharles (Charlie) Wieder DentSupreme Court denies GOP request to block Pennsylvania gerrymandering decision Dent likens GOP to a dysfunctional family on tackling difficult issues GOP lawmaker: Trump should have hit Russia harder in speech MORE (Pa.), quipped he could sympathize with Rene Boucher, Pauls neighbor in Bowling Green, Ky., who allegedly tackled the senator over a landscaping dispute.

When Rand Paul pulls a stunt like this, its easy to understand why its difficult to be Rand Pauls next-door neighbor, Dent told Politico.

Pauls office didnt find that remark at all humorous. The assault gave Paul broken ribs.

That comment is disgusting and Charlie Dent should apologize. Senator Rand Paul will always stand up for what is right, regardless of which party is in control, said Pauls spokesman Sergio Gor.

He successfully brought much-needed attention to the hypocrisy in the halls of Congress when it comes to out-of-control spending, he added.

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Rand Paul revels in role of Senate troublemaker | TheHill