Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul slams Trump’s impeachment again, calls it ‘political theater’
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul argued against impeaching former President Donald Trump Sunday, calling it “political theater.”
Trump has been charged with inciting the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Democrats who introduced the impeachment article said he fueled his supporters’ anger by pushing lies about election fraud, and told them to march on the Capitol and “stop the steal.” But Paul doesn’t think Trump’s comments were impeachable.
“To argue that any politician that tells a crowd to “fight to take back your country” is somehow guilty of incitement is absurd,” Paul wrote in an op-ed for The Hill as the Senate prepares to act as jurors in a trial over the impeachment.
Paul said some of his colleagues’ comments and “atrocious decisions” by those in charge of Capitol security contributed to the riot.
“Did some of my colleagues perform a little play for their supporters in which they claimed to be fighting for a different outcome they all knew couldn’t happen? Yes,” Paul wrote.
Paul has been criticized and accused of being one of those who led their supporters to believe the election was stolen. He promoted election fraud theories on social media and in interviews on TV without evidence. During a December Senate hearing he flatly stated that the election was “in many ways stolen.”
Despite his claims, Paul voted to certify the election results. Paul has yet to say the 2020 election wasn’t stolen, but he has also softened his comments on the issue. Paul was asked on Sunday by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos if he would accept that the 2020 election wasn’t stolen.
“What I would say is that the debate over whether or not there was fraud should occur,” Paul said in response. “We never had any presentation in court where we actually looked at the evidence. Most of the cases were thrown out for lack of standing, which is a procedural way of not actually hearing the question.”
Trump and his allies filed 62 post-election lawsuits. They won one of them. The victory came in Pennsylvania, a state which Biden still won. A judge in Pennsylvania ruled that voters couldn’t “cure” their absentee ballots if they hadn’t provided proper identification within three days of the election, according to multiple reports. The decision caused the state to not count the affected ballots, according to multiple reports. Biden still won the state.
Paul compared the violent Capitol riot to the 2017 shooting at a baseball practice field where several lawmakers and aides, including Paul, were playing. The suspect was reported to be a man who volunteered for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign. Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise was among those who were shot.
“Not one Republican stepped up to blame Bernie Sanders or suggest he be impeached or held responsible for the attempted assassination of more than 20 congressmen,” Paul wrote in his op-ed.
Paul further argued that impeachment isn’t useful because it’s sole purpose is to remove an elected official from office, and Trump has already left office. But the Constitution states that the Senate also has the power to bar Trump from ever running from office again if he’s impeached.
Paul has repeatedly slammed the impeachment effort and urged Republicans in the Senate to vote against it. But his fellow Republican Kentucky senator, Mitch McConnell, previously said on the Senate floor that the mob was “fed lies” and Trump and other powerful people provoked the crowd. Sen. Mitch McConnell hasn’t made any public comments regarding his stance on impeachment, but several reports have stated it’s possible he’ll vote yes.