President Donald Trump said Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was the only Republican to skip out on the White House Rose Garden lunch on Tuesday, with the senator dining instead with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY).
“We’re just missing one person. You’ll never guess who that is,” Trump said during his speech, referring to the Kentucky fiscal hawk. “He automatically votes no on everything.”
Trump told the GOP senators who were present at the event, “Look, if he wanted to come, I’d probably let him come.”
Following Trump’s snub in his speech this afternoon, Paul posted a photo with Massie on X.
“I actually wasn’t invited to the White House lunch today, but that’s ok I had a previously scheduled Liberty Caucus Lunch with @MassieforKY,” Paul wrote.
Paul has consistently voted with Senate Democrats against the Republican continuing resolution to fund the government and with Senate Republicans against the Democrats’ proposed spending bill.
“I didn’t vote for their Democrat spending bill, and I didn’t vote for the Republican spending bill,” Paul said in an interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker on Sunday. “I did so because the spending levels lead to an enormous amount of deficit. The Republican bill will lead to $2 trillion in deficit next year, the Democrat bill $3 trillion in deficit. So I opposed both.”
Trump singled out Paul for voting against the Republican caucus in a Truth Social post last week, calling him a “nasty liddle’ guy.” Paul said he doesn’t take the insults to heart.
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“I think he’s one of the best presidents, if not the best president, of my lifetime, but it doesn’t mean I will sit quietly and just say, ‘Oh well, whatever you want to do.’ I was elected to have a voice,” Paul said.
The White House did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s requests for comment on whether it invited Paul to Tuesday’s lunch.