Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky is one of former President Donald Trump's most loyal followers in the Senate.
Paul has repeatedly amplified the former President's lies regarding the pandemic that's killed over 600 thousand Americans, virulently defended Trump throughout his first impeachment.
Even after a mob of pro-Trump extremists stormed the U.S. Capitol in a deadly failed insurrection spurred by Trump's election lies, Paul continued to entertain the fantasy that widespread fraud stole the 2020 election from Trump.
Paul said:
"The debate over whether or not there was fraud should occur, 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."
Though the Senator called Trump's lies "irresponsible" in the days immediately following the riots, Paul remains loyal to Trump and voted against a bipartisan commission to investigate the insurrection, despite broad concessions allowing Republicans an equal number of committee appointees and subpoena power.
A book detailing the final months of the Trump administration, Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, reported that Joint Chiefs of Staff chair, General Mark Milley, called Chinese government officials on at least two occasions, including one immediately after the Capitol siege. Milley was growing fearful that then-President Trump was gearing up for a war with China to fight off losing a second term.
The calls, made without Trump's knowledge, were to assure to Chinese officials that the American government was stable and that a U.S. attack on their government was not imminent. Having lost faith in Trump's so-called leadership, Milley even went so far as to assure the government that he'd warn them if the U.S. was mounting an attack on China.
Paul railed against the report in comments to the conservative Fox News network.
Watch below
Rand Paul, without a shred of irony: "We have elections. We can't have generals overturning elections."pic.twitter.com/6IrvbUHlgE— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1631710093
Paul said:
"We have elections. We can't have generals overturning elections. That, we've always criticized in authoritarian regimes where the military takes over. This is very, very dangerous, and if this happened, Milley needs to immediately be removed of his command."
Given the Senator's continued support for Trump and the Republican party, who literally sought to overturn an election, people were amazed at his comments.
Can\u2019t have generals taking the election-overturning jobs from hard working senators, can we now?https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1438122484541362176\u00a0\u2026— Andrew Woodbury (@Andrew Woodbury) 1631710245
Always the masters of projection. Always.https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1438122484541362176\u00a0\u2026— Pollyannas (@Pollyannas) 1631710931
We can't have Generals overturning elections...that's what we have Republicans for. #LOLGOPhttps://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1438122484541362176\u00a0\u2026— CJ Phillips (@CJ Phillips) 1631711925
How does Rand Paul feel about *presidents* overturning elections?https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1438122484541362176\u00a0\u2026— Michael Wyman (@Michael Wyman) 1631724567
Given that Trump's refusal to concede the election threatened the stability of global government, people disagreed that Milley was somehow overturning an election.
not only irony but completely false - Milley did no such thing .. in fact all he did was make sure everybody followed LEGAL PROCEDURE and chain of commandhttps://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1438122484541362176\u00a0\u2026— NACMtrader17 (@NACMtrader17) 1631710209
not only irony but completely false - Milley did no such thing .. in fact all he did was make sure everybody followed LEGAL PROCEDURE and chain of commandhttps://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1438122484541362176\u00a0\u2026— NACMtrader17 (@NACMtrader17) 1631710209
Uh...how exactly did Mark Milley "overturn an election" by creating a contingency plan for if a lame-duck president tried to fire a nuke on his way out the door?https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1438122484541362176\u00a0\u2026— Matthew Chapman (@Matthew Chapman) 1631724297
Paul joins a chorus of other Republican lawmakers calling for Milley's removal.