Paul: Asking for Russian hackers’ extradition is a ‘moot point’

Paul was responding to a question about remarks Trump made to CBS News suggesting he would raise the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their summit in Helsinki, Finland, on Monday.

The Justice Department announced Friday that it had indicted 12 Russian military intelligence agents as part of the probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. The 12 defendants allegedly took part in Russia’s “sustained effort” to hack Democrats’ emails and computer networks.

“I will absolutely bring that up,” Trump said. “I don’t think you’ll have any, ‘Gee, I did it. I did it. You got me.’ There won’t be a Perry Mason here, I don’t think. But you never know what happens, right? But I will absolutely firmly ask the question, and hopefully we’ll have a very good relationship with Russia.”

Trump also tweeted Sunday that he believes no matter well how the summit with Putin goes, he’ll face criticism from Democrats and the media.

“Unfortunately, no matter how well I do at the Summit, if I was given the great city of Moscow as retribution for all of the sins and evils committed by Russia (…) over the years, I would return to criticism that it wasn’t good enough — that I should have gotten Saint Petersburg in addition!” Trump tweeted. “Much of our news media is indeed the enemy of the people and all the Dems (…) know how to do is resist and obstruct! This is why there is such hatred and dissension in our country — but at some point, it will heal!”

Paul also told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday that the US needs to continue to focus on ensuring its electoral process is protected.

“I think really we mistake our response if we think it’s about accountability from the Russians,” Paul said. “They’re another country. They’re going to spy on us, they do spy on us. They’re going to interfere in our elections. We also do the same.”

“We all do it,” Paul added. “What we need to do is make sure our electoral process is protected.”