(TargetLiberty.org) – Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) is being threatened with an ethics complaint because he read the name of the alleged whistleblower out loud on the Senate floor. Should he be punished though?
During the question-and-answer portion of President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, the senator tried to ask a question about the whistleblower multiple times. Chief Justice John Roberts, who was presiding over the trial, flatly refused to ask the question. He said he would not reveal the identity of the whistleblower.
At the time, Senator Paul wasn’t happy with the decision and felt as though he was being silenced. He told reporters that he’d try again the next day and fight to be heard. However, when the second half of the Q&A session rolled around, Roberts again refused to read his questions. When the trial entered into the phase where senators could speak on the floor, Paul did what he’d been trying to do: named the person who started the whole thing.
Paul made it clear that he was not just outing the alleged whistleblower for fun. He thought it was incredibly important that the Senate be able to ask the person questions about the origins of the complaint. After all, it was this complaint that may have led to the president being removed from office.
Not everyone agreed.
The backlash from his Democratic colleagues was swift. Now, Tom Mueller, the author of a book about whistleblowing, is trying to have the Kentucky senator disciplined. In a letter to Senators Christopher Coons (D-DE) and James Lankford (R-OK), Mueller says that Paul’s behavior was “corrosive.” He also claims the senator “engaged in improper conduct that is unethical.”
Corrosive and unethical? One of the tenets of our justice system is the right of every defendant to face their accuser. It is such an instrumental part of America that the Founding Fathers added it to the Constitution. Paul recognizes Democrats denied the president this right.
Even as Trump was fighting for his job as president, he was not allowed to face his accuser. Paul was the only person who was standing up for the president’s fundamental rights as an American citizen. It would be a slap in the face to our foundational principles if he were punished for that.
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