Paul was dialing back his concern about the initial strike about a week ago, saying the administration appeared to have "gotten the message" regarding the worries about its legality and was returning to a policy that allowed for confirmation of drug trafficking allegations before strikes were launched.
But President Trump said Monday the U.S. had carried out another military strike targeting what he described as were “confirmed narcoterrorists from Venezuela” in international waters.
Paul told WUKY that kind of action doesn't align with U.S. policy.
"You can't have a drug policy where you interdict drugs by just blowing up boats. It won't work from a practical point-of-view, not just a philosophical point-of-view," he said. "We interdict dozens of boats off of Miami every day. My guess is not every one of them has drugs. We say 'halt, we're going to board you,' the Coast Guard goes on board. I don't know what the statistics are, but there's got to be some of them that just have tourists on board and have no drugs. Are we just going to blow them up before asking them to show us if they have drugs?"
Asked to provide proof the second boat was carrying drugs, Trump simply pointed to video he said showed bags of cocaine and fentanyl floating in the ocean — after the strike.
Online Rift with Vice President
Paul recently had strong words for Vice President JD Vance regarding Vance's comments about the initial strike that purportedly killed 11 people.
The vice president defended the action in a recent post saying, "Killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military."
The online dispute arose after a social media personality and podcaster posted that killing civilians without any due process "is called a war crime." Vance responded: "I don't give a s*** what you call it."
Paul issued a pointed response — calling it a "despicable and thoughtless sentiment" to "glorify killing someone without a trial."