Conversation With Senator Rand Paul: Trump Re-Invites Him to White House Picnic, Plus Big Beautiful Bill, LA Riots, Fauci Investigation & More

U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) who is also Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee.

Darren Doyle, story: photo courtesy of Department of Homeland Security & Government Affairs
In a turn of events from yesterday, U.S. Senator Rand Paul, M.D. (R-KY) told the Edmonson Voice this morning that he had just received a phone call from President Trump, who stated that the "uninvite" he had received from today's White House Picnic was all a misunderstanding.

"He actually just called me a few minutes ago and said 'of course I'm invited to the picnic,' he just couldn't understand what could've happened," Sen. Paul said from Washington, D.C. in a telephone interview with the Voice.

The senator was filmed in an interview yesterday in Washington criticizing "lower level staff" of the Trump administration for informing him that he was uninvited from today's event. Yesterday, Sen. Paul called it "petty" and "immature."

"They reversed course on it and we're not one to hold a grudge, so we will go," he said. "My son and his wife live in Bowling Green and they've brought their son, our grandson, who's six months old up. He's got a little "Make America Great" hat he wants to wear at the picnic, or at least his parents want him to wear. So, we're not implacable enemies--the President--but if they want to treat us that way, I mean, it certainly isn't good for him or anybody to, I guess be so petty and childish about this."

We asked him about President Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill," which Paul has been outspokenly against, or at least one major portion of it, which is the increasing of the debt spending limit.

Paul said there was quite a bit that he actually supported in the bill, which he feels like is getting lost in all the focus of what he opposes.

"in 2017, we passed significant tax cuts, and I was a big part of that. I helped to negotiate those tax cuts. I was at the White House in the Oval Office negotiating that with the president. And so I support those. I voted for them in 2017, and I want to renew them, and I want to make them permanent. That's really the largest part of the bill, actually, is the tax cuts. In addition to that, there are those of us who think that the spending is out control and that we'll never get Democrats to vote for spending cuts, so we need to have some spending cuts in there. And so, you know, we've been advocating for more spending cuts to be in the bill. We think what's in there now is wimpy, anemic, and it needs to be more."

"But the big thing preventing me from supporting what I call the "Big, Not-Yet Beautiful Bill" is the increase in the debt ceiling to five trillion dollars. This is the largest increase in the debt ceiling ever in our history. And traditionally, the debt ceiling has been increased each time by democrats and the big government republicans who support deficit spending. And conservatives have voted against this as a way of showing our opposition to accumulation of debt. And so, you know, it has to go up, but what I've offered is, instead of doing $5 trillion, why don't we raise it for three months, which is $500 billion-- which is also a startling amount, that we're borrowing $500 billion every three months-- but then at the end of three months, the people who are making us promises now that they will cut spending, we reassess where we are and decide, you know, how much to give them on the next tranche."

"To me, the analogy is that like, if you give your 16 year-old a credit card, which is probably a mistake, but if you give your 16 year-old a credit card and the limit's $2,000 and they quickly run it up, and they come back to you, would you give them more credit or tell them, no, they need to pay down their credit card? Congress is about like an irresponsible teenager. That's the history of spending up here."

Sen. Paul said these tax cuts will not fail because of him but in the event that it needs his vote, he would negotiate. However, it would also take negotiation from the other side.

"Right now, they don't think they need my vote. That's sort of the purpose of punishing me by uninviting me to the congressional picnic, etc., but I think the fight is worth it in the sense that I think the debt is the number one problem we face in the country."

When asked if he thought separations in the bill were a real possibility, he said that he has pointed out several discrepancies where the budget could simply be better and his colleagues are beginning to agree in some areas.

"I think there is still some hope to make the bill better. And there is possibility of me voting for it if they would separate out the debt ceiling and separate vote.“

L.A. Riots, Deportation:

We asked him directly about the current riots in Los Angeles and if he supported President Trump's deportation actions.

He said it's a real problem when you have the mayor of Los Angeles and the Governor of California "basically resisting federal law."

"The federal law says that, you know, if you're in custody for assaulting somebody and you spend six months in prison, they're supposed to check and see if you're in the country illegally. And then when you're done with your prison sentence, you're supposed to be sent home. You're supposed to be deported. Well, you know, the mayor of Los Angeles and the governor of California are resisting this. They're saying, 'we're not going to obey the federal law.' But since the Civil War and since the civil rights era, we've acknowledged that when states resist the federal law, the federal government can come in to guarantee the law."

"You've got people standing-- hundreds, if not thousands of them-- waving the Mexican flag. To me, it's a great insult, you know, they come to this country, they want to come to this country. They say they like our country, but then they're holding a foreign flag and burning government vehicles. They should be punished. And if the local officials aren't going to do it, it ends up, you know, being a resort to federal officials. Now, would I prefer local? Yeah, I mean, I think local police are always more aware of the Fourth Amendment, more aware of the First Amendment. It's not always easy."

"You got to separate out what is legitimate protest from actual rioting. And, you know, the police have to do this difficult job, and I'm afraid sometimes soldiers aren't trained this way. You know, soldiers are to go in and, you know, kill the enemy. So it's just it's a tricky job for the military. But if the local officials are going to resist them, you know, I have not criticized the president for this because, frankly, what are we going to do, are we going to let our cities burn?"

Dr. Anthony Fauci Investigation:

We asked Senator Paul to update us on the possible investigations of Dr. Anthony Fauci and the origins of the Covid virus of 2020.

Dr. Paul, who serves as the Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, said the committee now has subpoena power.

"In January, I issued subpoenas to 14 different agencies to look into the COVID cover up. I believe they knew all along, that they had funded this. I believe they knew all along that there was a distinct possibility that the pandemic arose in a Wuhan lab in China that had been funded by our NIH and by Anthony Fauci. I have recently tipped off the FBI about the existence of his computer, his hard drive, and his phones. The FBI is now in possession of those. So there's going to be a forensic investigation of what he did or did not do on his electronic devices. And then we're going to go from there."

"The discussion and decision over why they funded this, (I'm) currently interviewing the people that were part of that process, and ultimately, I will interview and subpoena Anthony Fauci to a public hearing, and we will insist that he appear, but I have to interview these other people first to find out what questions I want to ask him."

Paul said the estimated timeline on this course of action would be the fall of this year.

Jeffery Epstein:

With our scheduled time running out, we asked him point blank, "Did Jeffery Epstein kill himself?" With a laugh, Senator Paul replied,

"Yeah, I got no knowledge on that. It's part of, sort of urban lore, and I try not to get into things--- I have an opinion on almost every policy you could ask me about, but on stuff I don't know, I don't want to wade into because it's become so, you know, wrought with urban mythology. So I'm going to stay out of that one."