WASHINGTON — Like every other Kentucky Republican on Capitol Hill, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., criticized the New York criminal case that ended in a guilty verdict for former President Donald Trump.
Paul posted on social media, “This verdict will tragically undermine Americans’ confidence in impartial justice. A sad day for America.”
Yet unlike Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and most of the commonwealth’s Republican congressmen, Paul said he has not yet decided whether to endorse Trump.
“I think that it’s important that if he wants to get my vote and my support and wants me to be more active in this, that he’s going to have to be more vocal on things like the lockdowns that I opposed, like the civil liberties abuses that I opposed, like the debt, which frankly, has been bad under Republicans and Democrats, so I’m looking for a little bit more before I make a final decision,” he told Spectrum News Tuesday.
“I’m supportive of Donald Trump, but whether or not I take an active role, endorse and go out and campaign for him is something that’s yet to be determined.”
Paul’s comments came a day after his fellow Republicans spent hours questioning the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, about his actions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fauci told lawmakers that he never tried to steer scientists toward a specific conclusion about the origin of the virus.
“I think he’s being disingenuous is the nicest way I can say it,” Paul said Tuesday.
Perhaps no one on Capitol Hill has been more critical of Fauci than Paul.
Paul told Spectrum News that the people of Kentucky support his focus on the pandemic.
“Without question,” Paul said. “There’s also people in Kentucky who still are very upset that our governor actually went in and our mayors went in and said let’s take down the license plates of people in church, let’s close down the restaurants, let’s close down the gyms.”
The pandemic contributed to the deaths of more than 19,000 Kentuckians, according to officials.
Gov. Andy Beshear, D-Ky., has defended his policies, saying he made the best decisions he could with the information he had.