During an interview aired on Monday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “The Story,” Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) stated that Saudi Arabia shouldn’t be given “easy forgiveness” in the wake of the Pensacola shooting, said that Saudi Arabia “needs to pay a penalty” for its actions, and called for a hold on the flight training program and a halt on weapons sales to Saudi Arabia.

Rand said, “I think we never fully realized that 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11, 2001 were Saudis. We haven’t realized that they actually killed a journalist and chopped him up and dismembered him in a consulate. And now we have Saudi pilots coming over here ostensibly to train to be our allies, shooting our own soldiers. No, I think there shouldn’t be any kind of easy forgiveness for Saudi Arabia. I’d put the whole program on hold, I would search all of these people, I would search all of their communications to make sure they were not complicit in this killing, and then I’d send them back home, and I’d put the whole program on hold until we find out whether Saudi Arabia truly is a friend and truly is willing to stamp this out. Saudi Arabia has spent billions of dollars spreading hatred of Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, you name it, around the world, and Saudi Arabia needs to pay a penalty for this.”

He further called for the cessation of arms sales to Saudi Arabia to try to pressure them into better behavior.

(h/t Grabien)

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