Rand Paul Tells CNBC Why He’s Withholding His Endorsement of Trump: ‘I’m a Deficit Hawk’
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said he hasn’t endorsed former President Donald Trump because of the debt Trump added while in office.
On Tuesday’s Squawk Box, Paul told Rebecca Quick he is “supportive” of Trump in the election against Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I’m supportive of Donald Trump. I think there’s no question that Donald Trump is better than Kamala Harris on this,” the senator said.
He then ripped Harris’s plan to tax unrealized capital gains as “so destructive that she should be disqualified from any thoughtful person considering her.” The plan has earned bipartisan backlash with billionaire supporter Mark Cuban admitting the plan would put many start-ups out of business and “kill” the stock market.
Circling back to Trump, Paul said he is a “deficit hawk” and he also wants to hear stronger language from Trump when it comes to Covid lockdowns and investigations into the virus’s origins in Wuhan. The senator said he wants Trump to show support for his investigation and to back legislation that would ban federal support for certain gain-of-function research.
Paul blasted Trump for pushing for a second round of federal checks to be issued during the Covid lockdowns.
“As far as my enthusiasm, I’m a deficit hawk. The Trump administration added $8 trillion. The Biden administration is going to add $8 trillion. This year we’re going to add another $2 trillion. As Trump left office, he was advocating for $2500 checks again passed out to everybody. I’m not for that,” the senator said. “I was against the lockdowns and I want to hear stronger language in that sense. I also want to get to the bottom of the funding of the research in Wuhan.”
Watch above via CNBC.
