Rand Paul Calls FBI’s Cohen Raid a ‘Witch Hunt’

FBI officials’ raid on President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer on Monday was part of “a witch hunt” and represented “a great overstep,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Tuesday on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.”

Trump was incensed by the news that FBI officials raided Michael Cohen’s home, office, and hotel room Monday to seize documents regarding Cohen’s communications with him. The raid reportedly was based on a referral from special counsel Robert Mueller and approved by U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman. Trump called the raid “a disgraceful situation” and “a total witch hunt” that represents “an attack on our country.”

Paul agreed. “The president is right. It is a witch hunt, but it’s a wide open thing and it’s a mistake to ever have these special prosecutors,” Paul said.

“The first question we ought to ask is, what does this have to do with Russia?” Paul said. “You know, I thought the special prosecutor was investigating Russian collusion. And going after someone’s personal attorney is a great overstep, I think, in the authority of the prosecutor.”

Paul claimed that Mueller “abused his authority” by making a referral from the raid because his investigation “no longer has much to do with Russia” and allegations of collusion between Trump’s 2016 campaign and elements linked to Moscow.

“This is about enormous power — prosecutorial power, but also power in the intelligence communities. We have to rein this in or every American citizen is exposed to this abuse,” Paul said. “We shouldn’t have these special prosecutors.”

Paul lamented it is “hard politically” to fire Mueller and that most likely wouldn’t happen. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein “never should have” appointed Mueller in the first place because “we’ve given too much power to a prosecutor who is no longer looking at Russia,” Paul argued.

Related: ‘Chilling Effect’ Seen in ‘Outrageous and Unprecedented’ Raid on Trump Lawyer

Now that Trump’s personal dealings with his own attorney have come under scrutiny by Mueller and the FBI, Paul warned they can use the information “to go snooping in other areas” outside the purview of the investigation.

“And imagine, once they get this, they’ve got all of the information that the president has ever discussed with the attorney and they say, ‘Oh, we’re not going to use the stuff that’s attorney/client privilege.’ But they’re going to read it,” Paul said. “And you think once they’ve read it might give them ideas of other places to look.”

“Let’s prosecute them in a normal fashion. Let’s don’t appoint the prosecutor that can go everywhere,” Paul added.

PoliZette writer Kathryn Blackhurst can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter.