Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said Sunday that President Donald Trump’s call for a pullout from a nuclear treaty with Russia is a “big mistake” — and blamed the decision on national security adviser John Bolton.
In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Paul said the exit from Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, negotiated by then-President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987, would unravel an “historic agreement.”
"I think John Bolton is the one advising the president to get out of the INF treaty and I don't think he recognizes the important achievement of Reagan and Gorbachev on this,” Paul said.
“I think it’s a big, big mistake to get out of this historic agreement,” he said, calling the pact “a big part of Reagan's legacy.”
Instead, he said he’s asked Trump instead to “appoint nuclear arms control negotiators to actually work with the Soviets.”
“We have complaints that they are not in compliance. They also have complaints that some of our missile launchers in Europe are not in compliance,” he said. “Let's have a rational discussion with experts on this and see if we can resolve it.”
Paul also suggested the United States should cut off arms sales to Saudi Arabia in response to the death of Saudi dissident and Washington Post opinion writer Jamal Khashoggi — declaring the Saudia are “completely dependent on us.”
“When we complain about the Iranians having ballistic missiles that they are developing, they are doing that in response to the arming of the Saudis,” Paul argued. “It's a bilateral arms race that goes on and on. I wouldn't continue it, I don't think we need the Saudis. They need us much more than we need them."
“[T]heir air force is entirely American planes,” he added. “They can't last a couple of months without parts and mechanics to help them run their air force. We train their pilots. They are completely dependent on us.”