Paul rips Trump for endorsing ‘worst Deep State candidate this cycle’

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) ripped former President Trump on Monday for endorsing former House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Rogers’s (R-Mich.) bid for Senate, slamming the former congressman as the “worst Deep State candidate this cycle.”

“Donald Trump just endorsed the worst Deep State candidate this cycle. @MikeRogersForMI is a never Trumper, and a card carrying member of the spy state that seeks to destroy Trump,” Paul posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

“You have to ask yourself who gives Trump this awful advice? Who’s next, John Bolton?” he asked, referring to Trump’s former national security adviser, who has become one of the former president’s harshest critics.

Trump announced Monday he is backing Rogers, who is favored to win the Republican nomination to run for the seat being vacated by retiring Sen Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.).

Rogers is also backed by the National Republican Senatorial Committee. NRSC Chair Steve Daines (Mont.) has worked closely with Trump to advance candidates favored by Senate GOP leadership to the general election.

Rogers, who is 60, served in the House from January 2001 to January 2015 and chaired the House Intelligence Committee from 2011-15. He became a national security analyst and expert for CNN since retiring from the House. 

As chair of the Intelligence panel, Rogers supported expanded surveillance authorities under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and opposed efforts to limit intelligence agencies from collecting information to protect the nation against potential threats.

Paul has been one of the most vocal critics of the expanded surveillance authorities granted by Section 702 of FISA, arguing they violate the Fourth Amendment.

He has proposed reforms such as requiring the U.S. government to obtain orders from traditional Article 3 federal courts to surveil the activity of U.S. citizens and to prohibit intelligence officials from requesting orders from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court instead.