Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) proposed focusing on “integrity of the elections” rather than retribution against Russia for alleged meddling in U.S. elections.

Paul said, “I think we mistake our response if we think it’s about accountability from the Russians. They’re another country. They’re going to spy on us. They do spy on us. They’re going to interfere in our elections. We also do the same.”

He continued, “We need to make sure or electoral process is protected. Because it is about partisan politics, we’ve forgotten the most important thing is the integrity of the election.”

He added, “If we have proof that they did it, we should spend our time protecting ourselves instead of having this witch hunt on the president. I think we need to be done with this so we can protect our elections.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN