Tuesday on Fox News Channel’s “Your World,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) reacted to the conclusion from the Mueller report as disclosed by Attorney General William Barr’s letter to Congress. According to Barr, Department of Justice special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Host Neil Cavuto asked Paul if the findings exonerated President Donald Trump. “Absolutely,” Paul replied. And I think this is a good day for America if we’re going to get beyond all this. I think it was a partisan witch-hunt from the beginning. The president has been exonerated. The Democrats and some in the left-wing media that promoted this, I think they need to apologize to the country, and they need to try to be more objective in the reporting and not create some kind of narrative that somehow President Trump is a Russian spy, which was ridiculous, but also insulting.” On the obstruction of justice question, Paul said if there was no crime, the justice could not be obstructed. “I think that you can’t obstruct justice when there wasn’t a crime,” he said. “How do you cover up for a crime that didn’t occur? So, if President Trump and nobody in his campaign colluded with Russia, which was the accusation if they didn’t do that, how can they be covering up for something they didn’t do? So I think it’s — this idea that where’s the burden? It’s sort of like, somebody stole some groceries in New York today. Are you guilty of it, Neil? Do you have to prove that you’re not guilty? Or should the government have to prove you’re guilty? It sort of turns it on his head, and it’s like, oh, the president needs to prove that he didn’t obstruct justice. No, that’s the government’s job. And they have a burden to prove it. They couldn’t prove it. But there also is no crime, so you can’t obstruct a crime that didn’t happen.” Cavuto asked Paul for his thoughts on a presidential pardon for any of the actors involved in the Mueller probe, to which Paul recommended Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security advisor. “The one that I have the strongest feeling about is General Flynn because I think no American should be prosecuted for something they said in a private phone call unless a judge gave a warrant to the government and said they can listen to the phone call,” Paul added. “They listened to General Flynn because they were spying on the Russian ambassador, OK? That’s foreign intelligence. But that shouldn’t be domestic prosecution. So what they did to Flynn should not only is — not only was unfair, but I think should be unconstitutional. And I have been bugging the president for years to come forward and fix this for all Americans, and say that no foreign intelligence gathering of information could ever be used against an American citizen in court for a crime unrelated to terrorism. So what they did to General Flynn was unfair. And I have told the president — he’s not responded to me — but I have told him my opinion is that he ought to pardon General Flynn.” Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor<doc-sep>ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Paul had previously warned that he would block the resolution unless information about the opposition research dossier compiled against then-candidate Trump was also released. " I don't care whether it's a Democrat president or a Republican president, we should not waste the time of the entire country sending spies into campaigns, making false accusations and tying the country in knots for two years," Paul said from the Senate floor on Thursday.<doc-sep>
Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) tried to pass a nonbinding measure to release Special Counsel Robert Mueller‘s report in full, but Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) blocked the resolution by demanding the release of documentation from the Obama presidency. On Thursday, Klobuchar asked “unanimous consent” to pass House Concurrent Resolution 24, which passed in the House of Representatives by a 420-0 margin. “I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H. Con. Res. 24, expressing the sense of Congress that the report of Special Counsel Mueller should be made available to the public and to Congress, and which is at the desk,” Klobuchar said. Paul objected to the motion, and while claiming “we all want transparency,” proceeded to make a motion asking Klobuchar to “accept my amendment, which would say that not only will we see the Mueller report, we will also see the communications between” a variety of Obama-era officials, including John Brennan, James Comey, and James Clapper, regarding the origins of the Russia investigation. Klobuchar then pointed out that the Mueller investigation was begun “under a Republican administration,” that the House had passed the resolution, and that she had been “hoping that we could do this on a bipartisan basis and try to see the report ourselves.” Klobuchar then objected to Paul’s motion. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) blocked the resolution two weeks ago by demanding a special counsel to investigate Hillary Clinton, and Republicans have blocked it 3 more times, including Paul’s objection. Watch the video above, via C-Span 2. Have a tip we should know? [email protected]