Sen. Rand Paul on breaking away from Senate Republicans over some of Trump's policies

[0:00] as chairman of the homeland security committee kentucky senator rand paul is at the center of [0:07] some of the most critical debates in the country just now he's in conversation with robert costa [0:13] for 47 years iran has been known as the bully of the middle east but they are not the bully [0:20] any longer president donald trump's decision to launch strikes against iran has won support from [0:28] most senate republicans i think that they are achieving great success with what they've done [0:33] so far i think they're more unified probably for war than just about anything else but i [0:39] need two big mailings but kentucky senator rand paul is the lone exception the chairman of the [0:46] homeland security committee says trump should not have acted without congressional approval [0:52] he's not allowed to start any military action unless it's authorized or an imminent attack [0:59] if it's not imminent it's not authorized under the constitution or the war powers act for paul this [1:04] moment is testing whether congress now in republican control will assert itself as founding [1:11] father james madison intended when people look at all of this are they seeing congress functioning [1:18] as a co-equal branch of government when it comes to foreign policy and war powers or not not madison [1:24] said that we give the legislature certain powers and the president certain powers and has each tried [1:29] to grasp foreign policy and war powers or not not madison said that we give the legislature certain powers and the president certain powers and has each tried to grasp for [1:29] the power they would check and balance each other i don't think our founders ever imagined our [1:34] current congress that is completely lacking in ambition um they don't check the president [1:39] as for checking trump paul started doing that more than a decade ago when they had competing [1:47] white house bids his visceral response to attack people on their appearance short tall fat would [1:54] we not all be worried to have someone like that in charge of the nuclear arsenal mr trump i know [2:00] that you don't have to go back and look everywhere and do it at friday night so if you [2:04] ever attack him on his look and believe me there's plenty of subject matter right there that i can [2:08] tell you since then they've mostly patched things up but the senator isn't afraid to break with [2:16] trump especially when he feels hawkish advisers are in the president's ear i think he was misled [2:23] by some of the more aggressive people his his basic instincts have been for less war what could [2:29] be the political and economic costs should this war escalate and continue [2:31] Well, the economic costs are very clear. [2:33] In the political landscape, I think the longer this goes on, [2:36] the less likely Republicans are able to hold on to the House and the Senate. [2:41] Paul believes congressional Republicans could face another reckoning soon [2:45] as the administration requests additional funding. [2:49] I won't vote for the supplemental because I don't want the war to continue. [2:53] Most people will accept the argument and say, oh, you can't quit funding them. [2:56] They're over there. They're in the battle. We can't fund them. [2:59] But actually, if they weren't funded, they'd be brought home. [3:01] You need to get here at least six hours early because we thought four hours would do it. [3:06] Closer to home, a partial government shutdown continues over funding homeland security, [3:11] snarling air travel and causing TSA workers to go for more than a month without pay. [3:17] Many in our workforce have missed bill payments, received eviction notices, [3:22] had their cars repossessed and utilities shut off. [3:25] On Friday, President Trump signed an order to pay TSA. [3:29] This should never happen. [3:31] This is a stupid. [3:32] Way to run your government. [3:34] But the government, Paul says, will keep facing fiscal standoffs. [3:39] We're going to have another one of these in six months. [3:41] You know, the spending will expire come the end of September. [3:43] So I'm not against the fight. [3:44] In fact, I want to make the fight such that we're fighting over the increases and not the salaries. [3:50] So help me God. [3:51] So help me God. [3:52] Making things even trickier on the homeland front. [3:55] Paul's testy relationship with President Trump's new pick to run DHS. [4:00] Secretary Mark Wayne Mueller. [4:02] And I haven't heard. [4:03] I misspoke. [4:04] And Paul opposed his nomination over character and Mullins responds to a 2017 incident where Paul was assaulted. [4:13] So you're jolly well fine and you want the American public and the people up here to vote that may or may not vote for you to know that you supported the felonious, violent attack on me from behind. [4:24] I did not say I supported it. [4:26] I said I understood it. [4:28] There's a difference. [4:29] Have you had a conversation with Secretary Mullen since he was sworn in? [4:32] I have not. And, you know, we'll operate in a professional manner as time goes on. [4:38] A guy like Massey, his poll numbers are showing he's at 6 percent approval rating right now. [4:43] And we call him Rand Paul Jr. because he never he never votes for the Republican Party. [4:49] Another flashpoint with Trump, Paul's support of embattled Kentucky Congressman Tom Massey, [4:55] a Republican critic of the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files. [5:00] I've not seen any arrests from the revelations in the Epstein files. [5:06] You can like Donald Trump and Thomas Massey because they represent a lot of the same things. [5:11] But Massey represents an independence of spirit that I think you want in your legislator. [5:16] If you want a rubber stamp, we could just have a high. [5:19] Paul's maverick streak follows in the footsteps of his father, former Texas Congressman Ron Paul, [5:25] a libertarian hero and three time presidential hopeful. [5:29] Our campaign is all about. [5:31] Freedom, prosperity and peace. [5:36] And with 2028 just around the corner, Senator Rand Paul isn't ruling anything out. [5:44] There was recently a headline in The Washington Examiner. [5:47] Rand Paul sounds like he's running for president. [5:50] Yeah, I don't know yet. So maybe they know something I don't know. [5:53] We're thinking about it. And I would say 50 50. [5:56] We'll make a decision after the election. But I'm not going to do it just to do it. [6:00] It would be one because we need to have a free market wing. [6:01] It would be one because we need to have a free market wing. [6:03] We need to have a free trade wing in the party who's not eager for war [6:06] and tries to at least explore diplomacy as an option to warm.