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Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) talked with Bill Hemmer this morning about the release by MSNBC of a few pages of President Trump's 2005 tax return.

The tax documents showed Trump made $153 million in 2005 and paid $36.5 million in income taxes ($38 million in total taxes).

The big reveal was touted by Rachel Maddow on Twitter before her show, but the documents were far from a bombshell.

The president later blasted the report as "fake news," and Paul agreed, questioning why this leak was touted by the left.

And he added that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) paid an effective tax rate of 13.5 percent a few years ago, far below Trump's 2005 rate of 25 percent.

"Since Senator Sanders is such a good socialist, I think he'd want to pay his fair share. I'm expecting news any day that he's gonna send a couple hundred thousand into the IRS so he can pay his fair share," said Paul.

Trump has steadfastly refused to release his full tax returns since beginning his presidential campaign, a departure from his modern-day White House predecessors.

Watch the full interview above, as Sen. Paul also discusses his opposition to "Trumpcare."

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Paul Calls Out Bernie Sanders' Tax Rate After Leak of Trump's 2005 Return - Fox News Insider

Sen. Rand Paul is replacing Sen. Ted Cruz as the key conservative troublemaker in Congress, The Hill is reporting.

The Kentucky Republican is fighting to get a group of House conservatives to vote against the GOP's healthcare reform legislation in hopes of convincing House Speaker Paul Ryan to open negotiations on the proposed bill.

"There's really no negotiating going on," Paul told The Hill. "Ryan is giving up nothing until he determines he doesn't have enough votes. If we get to the point where he doesn't have enough votes, then he'll negotiate."

While continuing to try to get some colleagues to oppose the bill, Paul has talked with President Donald Trump about his concerns, WDRB-TV in Kentucky noted.

"I've talked to him several times about how we make healthcare better in the country, and he says he's open to compromise," said Paul.

But first Paul is trying to show there is enough opposition to the bill to bring about a compromise. The Hill reported Paul is hoping to convince conservative Republicans on the House Budget Committee to join him in opposing the bill.

"If they pass it unanimously out of the Budget Committee, my guess is there's not going to be much compromise," Paul said.

And he is also urging House Republicans to vote against the rule that would bring the healthcare reform bill to the floor.

The move has brought about comparisons to Sen. Cruz, R-Texas,, who had pressured GOP leaders to hold-up a government funding bill in 2013 to protest the implementation of Obamacare.

"That's what Cruz did a few years ago," The Hill quoted on unnamed Republican senator.

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Sen. Rand Paul Stirring Up Trouble for GOP Healthcare Plan - Newsmax

Rand Paul suggested Sunday that everyone is missing the real story behind President Trump's tweets about being wiretapped.

Trump or his associates, the Kentucky senator speculated, may have been caught up in surveillance targeted at foreign actors.

"I think everybody has been getting this story wrong," Paul said in an interview on CBS' "Face the Nation." "I doubt that Trump was a target directly of any kind of eavesdropping, but I'm not saying it didn't happen. I think there's a very good chance it does."

Last weekend, Trump issued several tweets alleging that President Obama tapped his calls. The White House hasn't provided evidence for the assertion, which Obama has denied.

Paul, a prominent critic of the scope of the government's surveillance practices, theorized Sunday that Trump's communications, or those of Mike Flynn, the retired general and supporter who briefly served as Trump's national security adviser before being dismissed for misleading the administration, could have been caught up in existing surveillance programs.

Wiretaps authorized under foreign intelligence laws targeted at foreigners, Paul noted, often capture them communicating with U.S. citizens what he referred to as a "backdoor search of Americans." When that happens, the Americans' communications are meant to be masked, but even low-level intelligence employees can unmask them, Paul said.

"That's probably what happened to Flynn," Paul said, qualifying his remarks by saying that he has no inside knowledge of what happened. "They're not targeting Americans, they're targeting foreigners. But they're doing it purposefully to get to Americans."

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Rand Paul: Everyone's missing the story on Trump wiretapping - Washington Examiner

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Sen. Rand Paul on Trump's Wiretapping Claim: 'Everybody Has ... CNSNews.com If President Barack Obama wiretapped President Donald Trump, as Trump has claimed, the House intelligence committee expects the Justice Department to ... Rand Paul: Everyone's missing the story on Trump wiretapping ...Washington Examiner all 2 news articles »

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Sen. Rand Paul on Trump's Wiretapping Claim: 'Everybody Has ... - CNSNews.com

President Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan have tried to present a unified front on the GOPs health care bill, but a top Republican critic of that legislation on Sunday tried to stoke divisions between the two.

Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, said flatly that he doesnt believe the president is fully committed to the legislation as currently written. The House Republican leadership, he added, is presenting a false choice between the status quo or the current alternative proposal backed by Mr. Ryan.

I think theres a separation between the two, Mr. Paul told CBS Face the Nation. Ive talked to the president I think three times on Obamacare and I hear from him that hes willing to negotiate. You know what I hear from Paul Ryan? Its a binary choice, young man. But what does a binary choice mean? His way or the highway?

Mr. Paul said he doesnt think the bill, as it stands now, will get the needed 51 votes in the Senate.

For his part, Mr Ryan admitted that not everyone is fully happy with the bill that said that Republicans have an obligation to act.

Obamacare is collapsing. If we just did nothing, washed our hands of the situation, we would see a further collapse of the health insurance market, he said on Face the Nation. So, we feel an obligation to step in front of that collapse and replace this law with one that works, that has more freedom.

Mr. Ryan also said the White House has been extremely helpful in promoting the replacement package and helping craft the details of it.

Administration officials on Sunday stongly promoted the legislation. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price told NBCs Meet the Press that nobody will be worse off financially under the Republican replacement plan.

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Rand Paul stokes division between Donald Trump, Paul Ryan on health care bill - Washington Times