Rand Paul: Obama in 'Defiance of the Law' on Military Aid to Egypt

On Fox News Sunday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said President Barack Obama is currently in “defiance of the law” on aid to Egypt and said it would be prudent for America to end its military aid to the tumultuous country. 

“When there is a military takeover aid must end,” Paul said, asserting that Obama is not allowed to decide one way or another whether aid should be cut off.  

This week, Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) agreed with Paul that the $1.5 billion in military aid the United States gives to Egypt annually should end until the violence between the Muslim Brotherhood and the military government ends. 

Paul said the aid “has to end” because it is actually “counterproductive,” projecting American weakness. 

“It shows we are so weak we will not adhere to even our own conditions on this aid,” Paul said. 

He declared Americans are not “buying any love of the Egyptian people,” and the aid may breed resentment when the Egyptians see American tanks on the street and people being “shot down or rolled over” by tanks ”’purchased with American money.”

“Do you think that buys any friendship with the Egyptian people?” Paul asked.

Paul said that foreign aid is more likely to “buy a lavish chateau for a dictator or general in Paris” than “bread for people in Cairo.”

He asserted aid often goes to dictators and despots who have been taking the rights of Egyptians for generations and breeds resentment, especially when Egyptians see aid being stolen by generals and dictators like Hosni Mubarak.

He also observed the aid was not “modulating behavior,” because the Egyptians are continuing to do the “same thing.”