Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) lashed out at House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) Sunday for voting for a spying bill and not focusing more on the border.
During an interview on Fox News, Paul told host Maria Bartiromo that “Johnson was incredibly wrong” to vote with the Democrats to reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
“Here we have the leader of the Republicans in the house votes with the Democrats against a warrant requirement,” Paul complained. “We also have Speaker Johnson voting for the spending package.”
“As I see it now, I’m not sure there’s a difference between Mike Johnson being in charge and the Democrats being in charge,” he continued. “He supported it with a minority of Republicans, with a majority of Democrats. This is not using the power of the purse. This is abdicating the power of the purse.”
Paul said Johnson was “completely changed” after becoming Speaker.
“Use the power of the purse, Speaker Johnson,” the senator remarked. “Do something to make us think you are different than the Democrats. But so far, I don’t see a lot of difference.”
Paul went on to challenge Johnson on border security.
“But now Mike Johnson’s voting with a minority of his party,” he noted. “He’s the leader of his party and he’s not voting with the majority of the Republicans were for a warrant requirement.”
“That’s ineffective leadership,” Paul added. “And if he wants to remain speaker, frankly, he’s going to do better because, you know, I wanted to give him a break and I have for a couple of months.
“It’s the first time I’ve really spoken out, but somebody, I mean, the speaker’s got to be a speaker. He’s got to be a leader of his party, not a capitulator to the other party.”
