As President Trump sought to walk back his comments dismissing Russian election interference amid backlash, including from some of his closest allies, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has stood by the president’s side, lobbing attacks at critics.
Paul described condemnation of Trump’s refusal to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin accountable for the interference as coming from “people who hate the president,” even as top Republicans called on Trump to change course.
But the Republican senator saved his harshest attacks for former CIA Director John Brennan, who labeled Trump’s performance at a press conference with Putin treasonous.
“I think John Brennan is completely unhinged,” Paul said Tuesday. On Wednesday, Paul continued his media blitz against Brennan, saying Brennan is “the most biased, bigoted, over-the-top, hyperbolic sort of unhinged director of the CIA we’ve ever had.”
[Also read: Paul Ryan: Russia meddled, but Trump’s comments aren’t treasonous]
Paul’s comments about the former Obama CIA director have echoed those of the president’s. “I think he’s a very bad person,” Trump told Fox News after the Helsinki summit.
Trump has taken notice of Paul’s comments. The president singled out Paul in a tweet Tuesday, thanking the senator for coming to his defense. In another tweet Wednesday, Trump said critics of his summit have “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” a phrase used by Paul on Monday.
Thank you @RandPaul. “The President has gone through a year and a half of totally partisan investigations – what’s he supposed to think?”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 17, 2018
Some people HATE the fact that I got along well with President Putin of Russia. They would rather go to war than see this. It’s called Trump Derangement Syndrome!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 18, 2018
“It’s all about partisan politics now. This is truly the Trump derangement syndrome that motivates all of this,” Paul told CNN of the backlash related to the Trump-Putin summit.
On Tuesday, Trump said he misspoke when he claimed he did not see why Russia would have meddled in the 2016 election.
