After having lunch with Sen. Rand Paul earlier this month on Capitol Hill, Republican megadonor Foster Freiss thanked the Kentucky lawmaker for his hospitality before launching into a blunt critique of his non-interventionist foreign policy views.
The Washington Examiner's David Drucker reported Tuesday that Freiss (who is backing former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum in 2016) "gently scolded" Paul's reticence about a more assertive U.S. role in the Middle East.
But Freiss also went public with his criticism, telling Paul he had sent a copy of the letter to four other senators, among them Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina – like Paul, possible 2016 Republican presidential candidates.
In the letter Freiss urges Paul to consider sending more aid to the Kurds in fighting ISIS and appears to sound a note of frustration over U.S. reluctance to do more to aid the Kurds.
"Rand, I respect your reluctance to put Americans in harm's way by providing doctors, nurses, and mechanics to fix busted axles, technicians to deactivate booby traps, anti-tank weapons and personnel to protect them. (Anti-war liberals can support these measures.) But I wish I could dissuade you," Friess wrote, the Examiner reports.
"Maybe you are influenced by those who believe, 'They are all crazies over there, so why not stay out and let them kill each other?' It is understandably confusing to sort the good guys from the bad guys," Friess continued. "America's blocking aid to the Kurds embarrasses me — No, I am ashamed."
The Kurds "are unequivocally Good Guys," according to Freiss, the Examiner reports. "They love America, suffered their own Holocaust and are surrounded by Persians, Arabs and Turks who are less than friendly. Sound like Israel? I have yet to meet a Kurd I didn't like."
In 2012,
Freiss' support helped keep Santorum's super PAC alive while he was being bombarded by negative ads from the Mitt Romney campaign.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.