Rand Paul: Firing Comey couldn't have come soon enough

Appearing on Fox News Wednesday, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul told the Fox and Friends hosts that the firing of former FBI Director James Comey '"couldn't happen soon enough."

President Donald Trump fired Comey on Tuesday, prompting a bevy of responses from both media figures and politicians.

“I lost confidence in Comey a long time ago,” said Paul. “In fact, I never even voted for his confirmation because I doubted his ability to run the FBI."

Paul was the lone dissenter during Comey's 93-1 confirmation vote. Paul's stated reasoning at the time of his vote was that he had concerns about the FBI's use of surveillance drones over U.S. soil. Paul actually filibustered Comey's nomination in order to force the FBI to reveal more information about the U.S. drone program, and dropped the blockade effort once he had received the information desired.

"But I would say that most of America thought that he botched the Clinton e-mail scandal," added Paul. "All the Democrats thought he said too much and all the Republicans thought he didn’t do enough. So he had the confidence of almost no one."

Comey's investigation into failed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton email scandal has been rife with controversy. Clinton claims that Comey's reopening of the case two weeks before the 2016 presidential elections is part of the reason she failed to win the presidency.

Recently, ProPublica has reported that Comey exaggerated about the extent to which Clinton aide Huma Abedine shared Clinton emails with then husband former Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.).

Host Brian Kilmeade brought up that many are claiming Comey was fired because he got too close to proving Russian collusion with the Trump administration. Paul shot the idea down immediately.

“Not only is there no evidence that the Trump administration or campaign was connected to Russia, or committed any crime, no evidence at all of committing a crime, there’s not even an accusation of what crime would have potentially been committed,” said Paul.

In actuality, former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn has been accused of at least one specific crime involving the failure to disclose payments from foreign governments, including Russia and Turkey, on certain disclosure forms. Subpoenas were served to Flynn's associates, representing a "sign of a significant escalation of activity in the FBI's broader investigation" according to CNN.

Paul highlighted the hypocrisy over Democrat's outrage, citing Clinton's claim that Comey is the reason for her failed presidential bid, and pointing out that New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer - who earlier today said Comey's firing was a "huge mistake" - had said they lost confidence in Comey as well. Trump tweeted about Schumer's turnaround on Comey in response, saying that Schumer was acting "indignant."

Paul said the entire Russian investigation is "sour grapes" over Clinton's loss, but the entire investigation is built on a "huge myth."