Tags: rand paul | republicans | venezuela | drug boats | nicolas maduro | u.s. military | fentanyl

Sen. Paul Criticizes GOP Over Drug Boat Killings

By    |   Tuesday, 13 January 2026 09:12 PM EST

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said in an interview Tuesday that his Republican colleagues do not care about the people on boats killed by the U.S. military to prevent fentanyl from being smuggled into the country.

"I look at my colleagues who say they're pro-life, and they value God's inspiration in life, but they don't give a s‑‑‑ about these people in the boats," Paul said on "The Joe Rogan Experience."

"Are they terrible people in the boats? I don't know," Paul added. "They're probably poor people in Venezuela and Colombia. But I guess what I don't feel connected to my Republican colleagues is that those lives don't matter at all, and we just blow them up.

"And against all justice, and against all laws of war, all laws of just war, we have never blown up people who were shipwrecked," Paul concluded.

The Kentucky senator said it was against the military code of justice to kill people who were shipwrecked.

He also said the smugglers were not bringing drugs into America.

"They're not even coming here. They're going to these islands in the south part of the Caribbean. The cocaine, and it's not fentanyl at all, the cocaine's going to Europe. Those little boats can't get here."

Paul said the boats could only go 100 miles before they have to refuel and would have to refuel at least 20 times traveling from Venezuela to the United States.

He said the military strikes were all a pretense to justify the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.

"We got to show you we care about drugs," Paul, who believes Mexico will be bombed next, told Rogan.

Sam Barron

Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.

© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


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Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said in an interview Tuesday that his Republican colleagues do not care about the people on boats killed by the U.S. military to prevent fentanyl from being smuggled into the country.
rand paul, republicans, venezuela, drug boats, nicolas maduro, u.s. military, fentanyl
276
2026-12-13
Tuesday, 13 January 2026 09:12 PM
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