Rand Paul: President Trump Should Pardon Edward Snowden

As this term ends, and I look back on the record of Donald Trump as president, one thing stands out: he has been far more libertarian and done more on foreign policy and civil liberties than has any recent president.

First, as in my previous profession as a physician, my first yardstick for a politician is to “do no harm.” President Trump has started no new wars, has kept us out of conflicts like Syria, and has been actively attempting to wind down the wars he inherited in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He also inherited another reaction to the war on terror — the so-called Patriot Act. The Patriot Act has been used to spy on Americans since 2001, and many parts of it should never have been passed and should not be allowed to continue. This past year, when some of the worst parts of the Patriot Act were up for renewal, President Trump stopped its renewal with a veto threat.

The Deep State and the War Caucus were in a frenzy when that happened — “How will we survive?  The terrorists will surely overrun us!”  When I filibustered the renewal of the Patriot Act, a senior Republican senator warned me, “We’ll have no way to fight the terrorists!”  I replied, “We could try something novel and simply follow the Constitution!”