Sen. Rand Paul questioned the White House’s strategy of claiming President Trump didn’t commit a quid pro quo with Ukraine, arguing that the president has “every right” to do so.
Speaking on Sunday’s Meet the Press, the Kentucky Republican defended the president’s July 25 phone call with the leader of Ukraine and insisted that there is nothing wrong with Trump conditioning military aid on the country fighting corruption.
“I think we’ve gotten lost in this whole idea of quid pro quo,” he said. “If you’re not allowed to give aid to people who are corrupt — there’s always contingencies on aid. Even President Obama withheld aid, you know, he was supposed to give lethal aid. Congress said, ‘Give them $300 billion in lethal aid,’ and he sent them blankets.
“So, presidents since the beginning of time have resisted Congress, and there’s been this sort of back and forth jockeying over what is sent,” he continued. “But also presidents have withheld aid before for corruption. I think it’s a mistake to say, ‘Oh, he withheld aid until he got what he wanted.’ Well, if it’s corruption and he believes there to be corruption, he has every right to withhold aid.”
Paul then called it a “mistake” for the Trump administration to argue that the president didn’t engage in a quid pro quo.
“So, I think it’s a big mistake for anybody to argue quid pro quo, he didn’t have quid pro quo, and I know that’s what the administration is arguing. I wouldn’t make that argument. I would make the argument that every politician in Washington, other than me virtually, is trying to manipulate Ukraine to their purposes — Menendez tried it, Murphy tried it, Biden tried it, Trump’s tried it — they’re all doing it. They are all trying to manipulate Ukraine to get some kind of investigation, either end an investigation or start an investigation.”
House Democrats launched impeachment proceedings against Trump last month following a whistleblower complaint about his communications with the president of Ukraine, which alleged that Trump urged the foreign leader to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, as well as debunked allegations that the country interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election in exchange for military aid and state meetings.
