Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) rebuffed Vice President JD Vance’s defense of a recent U.S. strike against a vessel from Venezuela.
Last week, Trump announced that the United States conducted a “kinetic strike” against a Venezuelan vessel that killed 11 Tren de Aragua gang members while they were allegedly transporting drugs.
“Killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military,” Vance wrote on X on Saturday.
Another X user responded to Vance’s original post, suggesting that it was a war crime to kill “the citizens of another nation who are civilians without any due process.”
“I don’t give a s*** what you call it,” Vance responded to the user.
Paul decried the strike soon after Trump confirmed the military action. The senator pointed out that “even the worst people in our country” are tried in court.
“JD ‘I don’t give a s***’ Vance says killing people he accuses of a crime is the ‘highest and best use of the military.’ Did he ever read To Kill a Mockingbird?” Paul wrote.
“Did he ever wonder what might happen if the accused were immediately executed without trial or representation?? What a despicable and thoughtless sentiment it is to glorify killing someone without a trial,” Paul wrote.
Since the strike, Mexico announced that it will cooperate with the State Department to combat drug cartels.
“The aim is to work together to dismantle transnational organized crime through enhanced cooperation between our respective national security and law enforcement institutions, and judicial authorities,” a State Department release said.
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Trump defended the move despite backlash, implying on Truth Social that the strike is a “notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America.”
The Washington Examiner has reached out to Vance for comment.