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Tags: john mccain | rand paul | syria | attack

John McCain Slams Rand Paul on Syria: 'He's Wrong'

John McCain Slams Rand Paul on Syria: 'He's Wrong'
Sen. John McCain (AP)

By    |   Friday, 07 April 2017 07:55 PM EDT

Sen. John McCain Friday disagreed with Sen. Rand Paul's attack on President Donald Trump for not seeking congressional approval before striking Syria, saying that "I don't really react to Sen. Paul."

"We're just too different," the Arizona Republican said of his Kentucky colleague to Wolf Blitzer on CNN. "He doesn't have any real influence in the United States Senate."

Paul slammed Trump on Twitter Thursday shortly after the announcement that 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles had been launched from two Navy destroyers targeting a Syrian air base.

The senator suggested that the president violated the Constitution by not obtaining approval from Congress for the action.

When asked about Paul's remarks, McCain told Blitzer: "I don't pay any attention, frankly, to what Sen. Paul says."

"Tell me why you disagree with him so much," the CNN host asked.

"Because he's wrong."

McCain said that Paul and other lawmakers attacking Trump have long argued for an isolationist policy for the U.S. that would be detrimental to American interests.

"The point that they are making is that the United States should simply stay out of these areas," he said. "It's going to be a disaster.

"That's the point they make."

McCain and Paul have clashed many times in the past, including when the senior senator dubbed he and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas "wacko birds" in 2013 for filibustering John Brennan's nomination for CIA director.

He later apologized, calling the remark "inappropriate and I apologize to them for saying that because I respect them both."

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Politics
Sen. John McCain Friday disagreed with Sen. Rand Paul's attack on President Donald Trump for not seeking congressional approval before striking Syria, saying that "I don't really react to Sen. Paul."
john mccain, rand paul, syria, attack
251
2017-55-07
Friday, 07 April 2017 07:55 PM
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