Rand Paul on fellow libertarian Amash's impeachment call: Russia probe was 'un-libertarian'
Sen. Rand Paul does not agree with Rep. Justin Amash - a fellow libertarian Republican - that the House of Representatives should move forward with the impeachment of President Trump.
Sen. Rand Paul does not agree with Rep. Justin Amash - a fellow libertarian Republican - that the House of Representatives should move forward with the impeachment of President Trump.
Amash, R-Mich., made headlines in recent weeks for his lengthy Twitter threads laying out his argument for impeachment based on the Mueller report.
His latest tweetstorm took aim at Attorney General William Barr for allegedly misleading the public about Special Counsel Robert Mueller's findings and pushing a "false narrative" that the Trump campaign was improperly spied on during the 2016 election.
"I haven't changed, I’m who I said I was. I’m a principled, constitutional conservative who has stayed consistent regardless of whether we have President Obama in office or President Trump," Amash said at a town hall event Tuesday.
Reacting to Robert Mueller's public statement - in which the former special counsel emphasized that his report did not say Trump did not commit a crime - Amash joined Democrats in pushing for impeachment proceedings to begin.
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Paul, R-Ky., said on "America's Newsroom" Thursday that he takes the opposite view from Amash, seeing the origins of the Russia investigation as being "un-libertarian."
He explained that the powers, specifically FISA surveillance, utilized in the FBI counterintelligence probe are the kind that libertarians have long warned could be abused by the government.
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"I see an abuse of power from Comey, Clapper, Brennan, from all these guys," Paul said.
"I think they took this great power we entrusted with them to spy on foreigners and they directed it against Americans for partisan reasons. So, I think this has to be investigated and I think it’s wrong for any Republican to think, 'Oh gosh, this is a legitimate investigation.' I think it’s a very partisan investigation."
Paul then said he does not see any other Republicans joining with Democrats' "partisan" impeachment push.
Fox News' Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
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