Rand Paul continues to butt heads with the Trump administration over their lawless killings of supposed drug traffickers in the Caribbean:
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) blasted the Trump administration Sunday for its ongoing military strikes on suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean, labeling them as “extrajudicial killings” that he argued were similar to how the Iranian or Chinese governments operate. [...]
President Donald Trump has authorized at least ten strikes on suspected drug-carrying sea vessels since September, killing at least 43 people that his administration has labeled as “narco-terrorists.” The strikes have received widespread bi-partisan condemnation for potentially being a violation of international law, with the most-recent strike occurring late Thursday night into Friday morning, killing six.
Trump’s authority to authorize the strikes has also been questioned by critics, who point to Congress’ sole authority to approve declarations of war. Congress has not approved the strikes, and, according to Paul, have not even been briefed on the operations, or the evidence – should any exist – that those targeted were actually engaged in drug trafficking.
I assume the criticism he made on Fox News Sunday this weekend means Trump will continue to leave Paul off of the guest list for his Rose Garden lunches.
It's ridiculous that Paul is the only Republican senator saying this instead of all of them. Here's his back and forth with host Shannon Bream on Fox:
PAUL: You know, it's not so much about a briefing, but we haven't had a briefing. To be clear, we've got no information. I've been invited to no briefing.
But a briefing is not enough to overcome the Constitution. The Constitution says that when you go to war, Congress has to vote on it. And during a war, then, there's a lower rules for engagement. People do sometimes get killed without due process.
But the drug war, or the war, or the crime war has typically been something we do through law enforcement, and so far, they have alleged that these people are drug dealers.
No one said their name. No one said what evidence. No one said whether they're armed. And we've had no evidence presented. So at this point, I would call them extrajudicial killings, and this is akin to what China does, to Iran does with drug dealers. They summarily execute people without presenting evidence to the public. So it's wrong.
[...]
BREAM: Well, and Senator Paul, I know you said this isn't about a briefing, but would there be some level of information? Because I've heard other members say they are convinced they have been told that they can specifically identify these votes, the people on board and the cargo on board to the level that they're comfortable. So Senator Paul, do you think that that needs to be a public vetting or if lawmakers are provided that information, that's enough for you?
PAUL: Well, it won't be enough, but at the very least it should be revealed. There's at least two boats. One boat was said to be in distress and trying to get back to land that was bombed. That was said to be a fisherman. I don't know because I don't have any of the evidence.
There's also an anomaly in the sense that one of the boats where a bunch were killed, there were two that survived. If they were drug dealers, why wouldn't we prosecute them, present evidence of the drugs, show the arms they were about to invade us with, or show us something?
Instead, they're being sent back to Colombia and to Ecuador, Without a trial and no one's sort of trying to find out, who is the one behind this massive conspiracy to invade America with drugs? They're just sending them back home.
So in the one instance, you're killed on sight. In the other instance, if you're captured, we just say, oh well, we're just going to send you back to your country. Doesn't make any sense.
