Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Wednesday slammed President Donald Trump for uninviting him and his family from the White House picnic.
Paul has opposed the Trump administration’s decision to “actively” seek to suspend habeas corpus. Habeas corpus — the constitutional freedom that translates to “you should have the body” in Latin — ensures that detained individuals, whether or not they are citizens, are able to physically appear in front of a judge.
“I think I’m the first senator in the history of the United States to be uninvited to the White House picnic,” Paul told reporters on Wednesday. “I just find this incredibly petty. I mean — I have been, I think, nothing but polite to the president.”
The next day, Trump said that Paul and “his beautiful wife and family” are “of course” invited to the White House picnic that evening. It’s unclear whether the senator was bluffing about being uninvited or if the president is pretending to have never revoked the invite in the first place.
“He’s the toughest vote in the history of the U.S. Senate, but why wouldn’t he be?” Trump said on Truth Social. “Besides, it gives me more time to get his Vote on the Great, Big, Beautiful Bill, one of the greatest and most important pieces of legislation ever put before our Senators & Congressmen/women.”
The picnic is an annual event held by the White House on the South Lawn, which members from both aisles of Congress typically attend.
“They’ve decided they want to declare war on my family and exclude us from the White House, and I just think it’s incredibly petty,” Paul added on Wednesday, saying that White House staffers are “running sort of a paid influencer campaign against me for two weeks on Twitter.”
Paul said his son, daughter-in-law and infant grandson were supposed to attend the picnic with him. He also added that he did not receive an explanation as to why they all were no longer invited, and he’s not sure if the revoked invitation came from Trump or his staffers.
Habeas corpus is “one most fundamental rights we have,” Paul said. “And the same people that are directing this campaign are the same people that casually would throw out parts of the Constitution and suspend habeas corpus. So, I think what it tells it they don’t like hearing me say stuff like that, and so they want to quiet me down. And it hasn’t worked, and so they’re going to try to attack me.”
Paul has drawn Trump’s ire on more than one occasion in recent days. Earlier this month, Paul voiced concerns about Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” prompting Trump to take jabs at him online.
“Rand Paul has very little understanding of the BBB, especially the tremendous GROWTH that is coming,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. “He loves voting ‘NO’ on everything, he thinks it’s good politics, but it’s not. The BBB is a big WINNER!!!”
Paul also criticized Trump’s upcoming military parade on Saturday, Trump’s birthday. Paul told HuffPost the parade reminded him of the Soviet Union and North Korea.
The White House did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.