Rand Paul criticized JD Vance for praising the U.S.’s lethal action against a vessel connected to the drug trade emerging from Venezuela.

The vice president has been applauding the military strike that purportedly killed 11 Tren de Aragua narco-terrorists, even though the strike’s legal justification is questionable.

‘Killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military,’ Vance wrote on X. 

Kentucky Senator Paul, the GOP’s highest-profile libertarian, took exception to Vance’s words.

‘JD ‘I don’t give a s***’ Vance says killing people he accuses of a crime is the “highest and best use of the military,”‘ Paul wrote. 

“Has he ever read To Kill a Mockingbird? Has he ever considered what could occur if those accused were instantly executed without trial or representation?”

The classic Harper Lee novel To Kill a Mockingbird portrays a case of a man wrongfully accused of rape. 

Paul capped off his post with: ‘What a despicable and thoughtless sentiment it is to glorify killing someone without a trial.’

The Senator was referencing Vance’s response to a liberal journalist who said ‘killing the citizens of another nation who are civilians without any due process is called a war crime.’

Vance replied: ‘I don’t give a s*** what you call it.’ 

The vice president has yet to respond to Paul’s comments. The Daily Mail has reached out to a spokesperson for Vance. 

President Donald Trump dropped a video Tuesday that showed the U.S.’s attack on the gang members.  

He initially announced the strike from the Oval Office on Tuesday afternoon. 

‘You’ll see that we just, over the last few minutes literally shot out a boat, a drug-carrying boat, a lot of drugs in that boat,’ Trump told reporters.

The president said he had just been briefed on the matter by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Daniel ‘Razin’ Caine.  

‘We have a lot of drugs pouring into our country, coming in for a long time, and we just – these came out of Venezuela. And coming out very heavily from Venezuela, a lot of things are coming out of Venezuela, so we took it out,’ Trump added. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio chimed in directly afterwards. 

‘As @potus just announced moments ago, today the U.S. military conducted a lethal strike in the southern Caribbean against a drug vessel which had departed from Venezuela and was being operated by a designated narco-terrorist organization,’ Rubio said. 

Later, Trump jumped on Truth Social to share more details, including that no American military personnel were harmed. 

‘Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE!’ the president said, ending the post with his trademark: ‘Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!!!!!!!!!’ 

Venezuela’s dictator Nicolas Maduro has been fuming over the U.S.’s increased military presence in the region.

Maduro, who the U.S. does not recognize as the legitimate president of the country after an election last year, threatened to ‘declare a republic in arms’ if attacked by American forces. 

‘In the face of this maximum military pressure, we have declared maximum preparedness for the defense of Venezuela,’ Maduro also said. 

The Pentagon has deployed at least seven warships to the southern Caribbean.

Maduro characterized the escalation as ‘an extravagant, unjustifiable, immoral and absolutely criminal and bloody threat.’ 

Last month, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced a $50million reward for information leading to the arrest of Maduro, saying he uses ‘foreign terrorist organizations’ to ‘bring deadly drugs and violence into our country.’ 

In the announcement, she said the Drug Enforcement Administration seized 30 tons of cocaine linked to Maduro and his associates and 7 tons of cocaine linked to the Venezuelan dictator personally. 

She noted that cocaine is often laced with fentanyl, which has led to droves of American deaths. 

‘Under President Trump’s leadership, Maduro will not escape justice and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes,’ Bondi said. 

Caracas has long denied Maduro’s ties to the drug cartels.

Trump campaigned on eradicating the drug trade.

Since taking office, the president has also surged resources to the southern border and threatened China with tariffs over fentanyl trafficking. 

Last year, Maduro claimed victory in Venezuela’s presidential election over opponent Edmundo González in an election that international monitors said was neither free nor fair. 

During his news conference on Monday, Maduro also continued to claim that he was the legitimate winner of the 2024 election.