U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) has not been reluctant to speak out against President Donald Trump or about his fellow Republican Senators when he doesn’t see eye-to-eye with them on policy.
Paul, who has weathered condemnation from Trump for criticizing the administration’s deadly military strikes (“extrajudicial killings,” Paul said) on alleged “narco-terrorist” boats in the Caribbean without due process, is now aiming his criticism at fellow red state Republican Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) over a different foreign threat.
Kennedy, Paul said, repeatedly failed to heed his warnings about admitting foreign nationals from “high-risk terrorism countries” to the U.S. — a failure Paul links to the tragic shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C. last week.
[NOTE: Alleged shooter Rahmanullah Lakanwal is an Afghan national who came to the United States in 2021 via President Biden’s Operation Allies Welcome program, which Paul says Kennedy supported. Lakanwal was reportedly granted asylum this past April, during Trump’s second administration.]
In the wake of the shooting, many Republicans pointed fingers at the Biden administration for allowing Lakanwal to gain entry into the country and accused Biden of doing “zero vetting,” a charge that members of the former administration deny.
[On Sunday, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem deflected on the fact that Lakanwal’s asylum was granted during Trump 2.0 and told journalist Kristen Welker that the vetting process “happens when the person comes into the country and Joe Biden completely did not vet any of these individuals, and not this individual.”]
Aligning with Noem’s position blaming Biden, but also adding a Republican culprit in Kennedy, Paul voiced his frustration on social media Tuesday writing: “I opposed John Kennedy’s idea to bring in so many Afghan nationals. I told Kennedy it was reckless and dangerous. Ultimately, Kennedy and Biden won, and our country was flooded with unvetted Afghan nationals. This video has the receipts.”
I opposed John Kennedy’s idea to bring in so many Afghan nationals. I told Kennedy it was reckless and dangerous. Ultimately, Kennedy and Biden won, and our country was flooded with unvetted Afghan nationals. This video has the receipts. pic.twitter.com/vrnZPhDApy
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) December 1, 2025
Paul, who hasn’t ruled out a presidential run in 2028, added that “in 2013, I put forward legislation to suspend visas from high-risk terrorism countries and to require thorough background-check waiting periods for all others, so Americans can be confident our visa system keeps terrorists out,” and “In 2015, I also introduced legislation to stop taxpayer-funded benefits for newly arrived refugees from high-risk countries.”
[Note: The U.S. State Department reports over “190,000 Afghans have resettled in the US through the EW [Enduring Welcome] program and its predecessor, Operation Allies Welcome.” Prior to his arrival in the U.S., Lakanwal worked with the CIA during the war in Afghanistan, a role for which he would have been vetted, intelligence experts say. ]