FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — For the second time in the last month, Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) took time during a visit to the state to honor local law enforcement officers.
Senator Paul kicked off a two-day tour of Kentucky with a stop at the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife headquarters to recognize two officers. Senator Paul presented them with a Congressional Record, which commemorates the event that brought them together.
Earlier this year, state trooper Michael Sanguini was shot six times at close range while making a routine traffic stop in Harrison County. Trooper Sanguini’s vest likely saved his life, but he did sustain a fairly serious wound to his shoulder. His left arm remains in a sling, but the belief is he’ll return to active duty soon. On that night in late January, Fish and Wildlife officer Samantha Faoro was on the scene first and drove her fellow officer to the hospital.
“I’ve worked with that trooper a lot. They’ve backed me up on calls. I don’t care what agency they work for; he’s still a fellow officer, same as me,” Faoro said when asked about her response to the situation that night.
Senator Paul has made it abundantly clear that officers should be honored and that their departments should never be subjected to calls for defunding.
“We need to honor this type of service because this is dangerous work,” the senator said. “People who think we should defund the police, I think, are so outside the mainstream that we need to make sure that nobody thinks that’s a good idea,” he continued.
Paul was also asked about his thoughts on the January 6 committee, whose members are apparently one step closer to referring their evidence to the Department of Justice.
“The January 6 committee is a partisan witch hunt. It’s all a bunch of Democrats and two renegade Republicans,” Senator Paul stated. “I’m a Republican. Let’s say there’s a Democrat I don’t like. Should we use a subpoena to get that Democrat’s phone records? I think it’s an abhorrent use of power,” he continued.
Paul said he feels it’s all politically motivated with midterm elections approaching and does feel as if the matter will be settled soon. Perhaps in November, should the Republican party regain control of the House or Senate or both.
Paul was also one of 47 senators who voted against the confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson for Supreme Court Justice. He said, among other things, that he didn’t think Brown Jackson sufficiently answered what became a controversial question to define a woman.
“I previously voted against her for the appellate court as well. I think her judicial philosophy isn’t consistent with an original understanding of the constitution,” he added.
Paul also commented on his delayed vote during that confirmation process, claiming it wasn’t delayed at all and fell well within the time frame consistent with any vote that takes place in the Senate.
“I wasn’t trying to make a statement. That was just misreported,” he said.
