For weeks, Sen. Rand Paul Randal (Rand) Howard PaulSecond GOP senator to quarantine after exposure to coronavirus GOP senator to quarantine after coronavirus exposure The Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by National Industries for the Blind - Trump seeks to flip 'Rage' narrative; Dems block COVID-19 bill MORE (R-Ky.) has urged Donald Trump Donald John TrumpOmar fires back at Trump over rally remarks: 'This is my country' Pelosi: Trump hurrying to fill SCOTUS seat so he can repeal ObamaCare Trump mocks Biden appearance, mask use ahead of first debate MORE not to appoint John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to a position in his administration, and now he's threatening to block any such move, should it occur.

Paul said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that he’s an “automatic no on Bolton.”



"John Bolton doesn’t get it. He still believes in regime change. He’s still a big cheerleader for the Iraq War,” Paul said. “John Bolton is so far out of it and has such a naive understanding of the world.”

According to reports Saturday, Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson leads the race for the position of secretary of State, but Paul said Sunday he'd be against Bolton even in a secondary position at the State Department.

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In a November op-ed, Paul wrote that "Bolton is a longtime member of the failed Washington elite that Trump vowed to oppose, hell-bent on repeating virtually every foreign policy mistake the U.S. has made in the last 15 years — particularly those Trump promised to avoid as president."

Paul said Bolton has stood more often with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonButtigieg stands in as Pence for Harris's debate practice Senate GOP sees early Supreme Court vote as political booster shot Poll: 51 percent of voters want to abolish the electoral college MORE than with Trump on foreign policy issues.

Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush, said last year that he didn’t regret supporting the decision to invade Iraq, calling it “correct.”

“I still think the decision to overthrow Saddam was correct. I think decisions made after that decision were wrong, although I think the worst decision made after that was the 2011 decision to withdraw U.S. and coalition forces,” he said at the time.

Paul has said "no man is more out of touch with the situation in the Middle East or more dangerous to our national security than Bolton."

For that reason, Paul thinks Bolton should be "nowhere close to the State Department if anybody with a sane worldview is in charge."