US Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) speaks during the largely virtual 2020 Republican National Convention broadcast from Washington, August 25, 2020. 2020. (Photo: Agencies)
US Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, speaking via video on the second day of the Republican National Convention, denounced US military intervention overseas while supporting US President Donald Trump's efforts on criminal justice reform.
"I don't always agree with him, but our occasional policy differences are far outweighed by our significant agreements," Paul said Tuesday in a blunt speech a little more than four minutes long.
"I'm supporting President Trump because he believes as I do that a strong America cannot fight endless wars. We must not continue to leave our blood and treasure in Middle East quagmires," said Paul, who ran against Trump in the 2016 White House campaign.
Paul said Trump's Democratic opponent in the Nov 3 election, former vice-president Joe Biden, has supported wars in Iraq, Serbia, Libya and Syria.
Paul also praised Trump for his work on criminal justice reform while criticizing Biden.
"President Trump actually signed the First Step Act, the first real reform in a generation, and one that sought to undo the harm that others, like Joe Biden, have done," the libertarian Republican senator said. "For those who lament the Biden crime bill that locked up a generation of young black men, remember that Biden bragged about a bill that still wreaks havoc among people of color."
While Biden didn't respond to Paul's comments, he tweeted a general comment about the convention at 9 pm EDT: "When they say 'the best is yet to come,' that's a threat."
Michael Shear, New York Times White House correspondent, wrote in a live blog on the Times' website: "There's a great irony in Rand Paul's anti-war praise of Trump given how many thousands of times Trump has bragged about investing hundreds of billions of dollars in rebuilding the American military."
First lady Melania Trump was to deliver Tuesday evening's keynote address before a small audience at the White House, while the president's daughter Tiffany and son Eric spoke, too.
Tuesday's program was themed "Land of Opportunity."
In a planned appearance that has generated some controversy, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was to address the nation during an official overseas trip in Israel. The New York Times reported that it was the first time in at least 75 years that a sitting secretary of state addressed a national political convention.
Pompeo's taped appearance breaks with decades of tradition of secretaries of state avoiding the appearance of involving themselves in domestic politics. That his video was filmed in Jerusalem, where he was on an official foreign trip, has raised additional questions of propriety.
Trump has said he is America's most pro-Israel president and pointed to his decisions to recognize Jerusalem as the capital, move the American embassy to the holy city from Tel Aviv, and recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
Federal officials are prohibited from engaging in political activities on government time or at government expense. The State Department says Pompeo filmed the video during personal time on the trip, with the cost picked up by the GOP convention.
The speakers Tuesday also included a Kentucky high school student whose interaction last year with a Native American man became a flashpoint in the nation's culture wars.
The student, Nicholas Sandmann, who recently secured settlements in libel cases against The Washington Post and CNN for coverage of his encounter with Nathan Phillips, assailed the media in prepared remarks.
"In November, I believe this country must unite around a president who calls the media out and refuses to allow them to create a narrative instead of reporting the facts," he said.
Also speaking were Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, the first African American to hold statewide office in Kentucky, and Florida Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nunez, the first Hispanic woman to hold that office in her state.