Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said on Wednesday that he won't vote to confirm President Barack Obama's attorney general nominee, Loretta Lynch, because of her stance on various issues such as civil forfeiture of property, illegal immigration and drone use on American citizens.
After the Senator heard about Lynch's position on these issues - that she is in favor of Obama's executive immigration amnesty, the use of asset forfeiture and her refusal to acknowledge that the government doesn't have the authority to use a drone to kill an American citizen on U.S. soil - he told his office staff that he doesn't support her and will work to derail her nomination chances, reported Breitbart.
"Oh, she's going down," Paul said to his staffers, becoming the second Republican party 2016 presidential contender to publicly oppose Lynch's confirmation.
Paul then released a statement expressing his thoughts on Lynch:
"Mrs. Lynch has a track-record of violating the individual freedoms granted to us by our Constitution," reported CNN. "She considers civil asset forfeiture to be a 'useful tool,' while I consider it to be an infringement on the Fifth Amendment. She remains non-committal on the legality of drone strikes against American citizens, while I believe such strikes unequivocally violate rights granted to us by the Sixth Amendment.
"Mrs. Lynch also supports President Obama's calls for executive amnesty, which I vehemently oppose. The Attorney General must operate independent of politics, independent of the president and under the direction of the Constitution. I cannot support a nominee, like Mrs. Lynch, who rides roughshod on our Constitutional rights."
Others who have said they will oppose Lynch's nomination include Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, David Vitter of Louisiana, Jeff Sessions of Alabama and John Cornyn of Texas, while Senate Judiciary Cmmittee Chairman Orrin Hatch of Utah has said he plans to support her nomination.
Paul said one of his biggest issues with Lynch is her inabilty to be objective.
"I think ideally you want an attorney general who, if there were a problem, would be independent and objective looking at the executive branch," he told Breitbart. "That's kind of what you want an attorney general to do. I'm concerned that a big part of her fame as a federal prosecutor was through civil forfeiture. She was asked specifically about this by Sen. Lee, and her response was 'oh, everything is fine, it's done with a court order.'
"She seems to not quite understand that innocent people are having their stuff taken by government - their cars, their money, their hotels, their stuff is being confiscated by government even if they're never charged or even if they're never convicted. She didn't seem to grasp that point and this is a week after parts of the administration said they were not going to enforce some of the civil forfeiture."
