Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., characterized his colleague Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., as being wrong for four decades after the latter made critical remarks about Monday's U.S.-Russia summit in Helsinki.
Paul appeared on Fox News and said McCain's comments — the ailing senator called the meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin a "tragic mistake" — were misguided.
"John McCain has been wrong on every decision for the last 40 years. He's out to lunch on this," Paul told host Neil Cavuto. "He said if we expand NATO in Eastern Europe, he predicted the rise of Putin. When I add Montenegro, he said I was working for Putin. Everybody is a traitor, they have something on the president.
"Maybe the president wants less conflict in the world and less likelihood of war. I believe that to be true."
Paul also praised Monday's meeting between the two leaders, making him a minority voice amid a sea of criticism thrown at Trump for not standing up to Russia and claims it meddled in the 2016 U.S. election — a point Trump has yet to concede publicly despite mounting evidence and more than two dozen indictments against Russians.
"I think we need to take a step back and ask ourselves, is it good to have conversation with your adversaries, is it good to have open lines of communication with Russia?" Paul told Cavuto. "In the worst part of the Cold War — probably the Cuban Missile Crisis — [former President John F.] Kennedy had a direct line to [former Soviet Premier Nikita] Khrushchev. We had an ambassador in Russia. We had an ambassador in Russia even during the years of Stalin.
"I think having open lines of communication is very important for avoiding war. That's what I would see this meeting as: renewing engagement and renewing open lines of conversation."
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