During a press conference Wednesday, Senator Paul criticized Pompeo’s position on regime change in Iraq and Iran as well as his stance on torture as a former congressman.
“We have asked Pompeo before about his quotes on enhanced interrogation, torture, waterboarding and he has basically stuck by the fact that he doesn’t believe it is torture, and that to me is very troubling and one of the reasons I opposed him at the CIA,” stated Paul.
The Kentucky senator also addressed Gina Haspel’s past as a black ops leader in Thailand, who oversaw interrogations of suspected terrorists during the Bush-43 administration.
He referred to quotes from Haspel relating to an interrogated suspect, where she said “Good job, I like the way you are drooling.” The suspect was being waterboarded at the time.
“When you read that, sort of the joyful glee of somebody being tortured, I find it just amazing that anyone would consider having this woman as the head of the CIA,” said Paul. “So, my opposition to her is because of her direct participation in interrogation and her gleeful enjoyment of the suffering of someone being tortured.”
During the transition last year, the Kentucky senator was the only Republican on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee to oppose Pompeo’s confirmation as CIA director.
Senator Paul also drew attention to the fact that he speaks out against a variety of matters on a regular basis, which are unpopular with the Republican party.
“There are certain issues, people who complain sometimes about the filibuster, they complain about trying to obstruct, I think the debate over whether or not America is a country in favor of torture or not is an important one,” Paul stated.
The Kentucky senator even voiced his displeasure with Pompeo and Haspel on Twitter, where he said he supported President Trump. However, he expressed that he couldn’t support “people who never understood ‘America first’ and want to manipulate the president.”
Despite Senator Paul’s dissent, the move is not a deal-breaker for Pompeo and Haspel.
Foreign Affairs Chairman Bob Corker could send Pompeo to a full Senate vote if Democrats on the committee vote them down along with Senator Paul.
Meanwhile, Haspel will go before the Senate Intelligence Committee before heading to the full Senate, which Senator Paul will not be apart of.
Vice President Mike Pence could then break a tie vote for the full vote if all Democrats vote no.
However, some Democrats have not vocally opposed Pompeo and Haspel’s nomination and are waiting for committee hearings to make a solid decision.
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he would not actively urge Democrats to vote no for either of the presidential picks, but said they have many unanswered questions for the two nominees.
(Via: Oann )
Blog Author's Comments: I have to wonder what Rand Paul would do if his wife was abducted by a gang of thugs, and law enforcement had captured one of the members of the gang, but he would not tell them where his wife was being held. Rand Paul would not want someone to squeeze the gang member for the information as to where his wife was? If he said in this scenario he would not want to pull the needed information out of this man, by any means, I have to wonder about him, what type of person he really is. But, I already know this, with the statements he has made with regard to waterboarding of the enemy, to save the lives of American troops or innocent civilians.
From my understanding waterboarding is a mind game. There is no physical pain, blood, broken bones etc. If foreign nationals taken on the battlefield need to give up strategic information that can save American lives I say use Waterboarding. According to many people, including Sen. Rand Paul, whatever the prisoners did or did not do, torturing/waterboarding them is a war crime. Why are we sending troops into harms way when we have lawmakers like Rand Paul in Washington not coming to their defense?
We always have the disagreeable three, Rand Paul, John McCain and Lindsey Graham who tag team against so much of what President Trump wants to put forward. Are they jealous of him, is it about name recognition with voters, to be relevant at the next election? They work hardest to oppose rather than support, that seems rather clear.
