Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said at the Turning Point USA’s Teen Student Action Summit in Washington, DC, on Wednesday that Special Counsel Robert Mueller does not understand American jurisprudence.

“Here’s the thing,” Paul said. “Alright. I’m not a lawyer. I’m a doctor. But I know that American jurisprudence —our system — is based on what? Innocent until proven guilty.”

“Now Mueller is supposed to be this smart lawye, but he doesn’t seem to understand the fundamental part of our judicial system,” Paul said. “So he writes in his report, ‘Well, I can not exonerate him, I can’t tell you that he’s innocent.’”

“That’s never the job of a prosecutor,” Paul said. “A prosecutor never does that. You either prove guilt or the presumption is of innocence.”

TPUSA Founder and Executive Director Charlie Kirk interviewed Paul, who noted that the topic should have been addressed at Wednesday’s House hearings on Mueller’s report on his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and President Donald Trump’s campaign’s alleged involvement in that interference.

He also said the burden of proving guilt lies with the government, not the individual accused of a crime.

“You don’t prove your innocence,” Paul said. “The burden is on the government, not on the individual.”

“This is an amazing thing about our country,” Paul said.

Paul also said that this system of jurisprudence is what makes the United States unique in a world where most people are not free.

“It is sort of one of the dividing lines or things that separates us — a freedom society from a totalitarian society — is the presumption of innocence,” Paul said.

“It’s just like your rights — things that they take away from you,” Paul continued. “You’re presumed to have these freedoms.”

“When you look at the Bill of Rights, the 9th amendment says not to disparage those rights that aren’t mentioned — it’s not a complete list,” Paul said, adding that, moreover, the government is not the source of those rights.

“Most of these rights —or all of them really — they come from your creator, not something the government grants you,” Paul said.

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