must be punished for violating the budapest memorandum, and russia must learn that the u.s. will isolate it if it insists on acting like a rogue nation." he said that the united states and european allies could retaliate against russia's military aggression without any need for military action. he urged that the united states impose economic sanctions on russia and resume an effort to build defensive anti-missile installations in poland and the czech republic. he also called for the united states to take steps as a counterweight to russia's strategic influence on europe's oil and gas supply, such as lifting restrictions on new exploration and drilling for fossil fuels in the united states along with immediate approval of the controversial keystone pipeline, which he said would allow the united states to ship more oil and gas to europe if russia attempts to cut off its own supply to europe. paul played a leading role in blocking a treaty with switzerland that would enable the irs to conduct tax evasion probes, arguing that the treaty would infringe upon americans' privacy. paul received the 2014 distinguished service award from the center for the national interest (formally called the nixon center) for his public policy work. in response to reports that the cia infiltrated the computers of the senate intelligence committee, paul called for the firing of cia director john o. brennan. in december 2014, paul supported the actions taken by the obama administration to change united states policy towards cuba and to ease trade restrictions with that country. 114th congress (2015–2017) in the beginning of 2015, senator paul re-introduced the federal reserve transparency act. paul also introduced the fair act, or fifth amendment integrity restoration act, which would restrict civil forfeiture proceedings. paul spoke for ten and a half hours on may 20, 2015, in opposition to the reauthorization of section 215 of the patriot act. sections of the patriot act were prevented from being reauthorized on june 1. after the death of antonin scalia in february 2016, on february 15, paul indicated that he would oppose any nomination by president obama to replace the late supreme court justice. during a press briefing on may 6, 2016, president obama called on paul to stop "blocking the implementation of tax treaties that have been pending for years", arguing that they assisted law enforcement in off shore investigations into tax evasion. paul advocated for the abolition of gun-free zones during a speech to the national rifle association on may 20, citing repeated tragedies occurring in these locations. on june 6, paul spoke of introducing legislation to cease selective service, three days after the death of muhammad ali, after whom he intended to name the legislation in tribute. 115th congress (2017–2019) in march 2017, paul introduced the stop arming terrorists act that would prohibit the use of united states government funds to provide assistance to al qaeda, jabhat fateh al-sham, and the islamic state of iraq and the levant (isil) and to countries supporting those organizations. on march 16, senator john mccain (rep) accused paul of being an agent of vladimir putin after paul objected to adding montenegro to nato. paul responded the following day by saying mccain "makes a really, really strong case for term limits", suggesting mccain had become "a little unhinged" as a result of his seniority. on april 7, mccain said he did not pay attention to any of paul's rhetoric and that the latter did not have "any real influence" in the united states senate. paul questioned president trump's april 2017 missile strike to syria by saying, "while we all condemn the atrocities in syria, the united states was not attacked." he said that further action should not be taken without congressional authorization. paul was one of 22 senators to sign a letter to president donald trump urging him to have the united states withdraw from the paris agreement in may 2017. according to the guardian, paul has received over $250,000 from oil, gas and coal interests since 2012. in july, rand paul joined reps. justin amash (r-mi), thomas massie (r-ky), john duncan jr. (r-tn) and sen. bernie sanders (i-vt) in opposing a bill that would impose new economic sanctions against russia, iran, and north korea. president trump opposed the bill, pointing out that relations with russia were already "at an all-time and dangerous low". he did, however, sign the bill though likely out of political pressure. paul confirmed in an october 2017 interview he would not vote for the republican budget in the senate unless billions in spending were removed from the plan: "if leadership is unwilling to compromise with somebody who is concerned about the debt, then they deserve to lose." in february 2018, republican senators introduced an immigration framework akin to that proposed by president trump and with his support that called for $25 billion being provided for border security in exchange for a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million immigrants brought into the us illegally. paul was one of fourteen republican senators to vote against the proposal. fivethirtyeight, which tracks congressional votes, found that paul had voted with donald trump's positions the least out of all republicans, only voting with him 74% of the time by august 2018. in december 2018, in the wake of court filings implicating president trump's involvement in campaign finance violations, including an attempt to buy a woman's silence, paul played down the alleged violations and said that they should not be "over-criminalized." paul said that the campaign finance violations were "an error in filing paperwork or not categorizing" and that going after such violations would turn the u.s. into a "banana republic, where every president gets prosecuted and every president gets thrown in jail when they're done with office." affordable care act repeal paul introduced a bill on january 25, 2017, that sought to replace the affordable care act which included each person's having a tax credit of $5,000 and not requiring everyone to have coverage, unlike obamacare. on march 2, after marching to the house of representatives side of capitol hill, paul was filmed knocking on a door while demanding to see their copy of the replacing and repealing the affordable care act bill. paul spoke with president trump over the phone on march 6, paul telling him that the repeal and replacement of the affordable care act should be two separate bills. two days later, paul said republicans were united in repealing the affordable care act but divided in their stances on its replacement. on march 12, paul accused house speaker paul ryan of being misleading in portraying supporters of the american health care act of 2017 as not being negotiable, and three days later, march 15, furthered that ryan was "selling" president trump "a bill of goods" that he had not explained fully to the president. after the bill was pulled by republican leaders from a vote, paul released a statement on march 24 thanking house conservatives for rebelling "against obamacare lite." later, on april 2, paul golfed with trump and budget director mick mulvaney at the trump national golf club in virginia, where they discussed a variety of topics, including healthcare. paul told reporters on june 15 that he was willing to vote for a partial repeal, but not the implementation of new republican entitlement programs, which he identified as present in both house and senate versions of the bill. paul also told reporters on september 11 that he did not believe the graham-cassidy bill would pass. paul tweeted on september 15 that graham-cassidy retained "90% of obamacare" and dubbed it "more obamacare lite". on september 19, paul asserted the graham-cassidy bill as immortalizing the affordable care act and "a big government boondoggle of a trillion dollars of spending" that republicans should abandon in favor of pursuing measures that would allow for health insurance to be purchased across state lines. on september 22, after president trump tweeted that "rand paul, or whoever votes against hcare bill, will forever (future political campaigns) be known as 'the republican who saved obamacare'", paul responded that he would not be coerced into supporting graham-cassidy with bribes or bullying. 116th congress (2019–2021) paul at the 2019 turning point usa winter gala at mar-a-lago. in january 2019, paul condemned senator mitt romney for writing an editorial criticizing president trump. paul said that romney's criticism of trump's character was bad for the country and for the republican party. on july 17, 2019, paul blocked senator kirsten gillibrand's motion for unanimous consent on a bill renewing the september 11th victim compensation fund along with utah senator mike lee. the fund was estimated to run out by the end of the year; the bill would renew it until the year 2090. paul argued that he was not blocking the bill, but rather seeking a vote on an amendment that would offset the new spending by other spending cuts due to the deficit. in a segment on fox news, which went viral, comedian jon stewart and 9/11 first responder john feal rebuked paul, accusing him of hypocritical "fiscal responsibility virtue signalling", for delaying passage of the bill, while at the same time he voted in favor of the tax cuts and jobs act of 2017, which increased the deficit. in response, paul said he has always insisted on "pay-go provisions" for any increase in spending, including for disaster relief funding, and called stewart uninformed and a part of a "left-wing mob". paul speaking at a turning point usa event in 2020 on november 4, 2019, paul called on the media to reveal the secret identity of trump's ukraine quid pro quo whistleblower after threatening to reveal the name himself. in february 2020, paul criticized youtube for removing a video of his floor speech about the impeachment trial of donald trump. his speech contained a controversial question for impeachment manager adam schiff and counsel for the president: "are you aware that house intelligence committee staffer shawn misko had a close relationship with when at the national security council together?" on february 26, 2020, paul's wife purchased between $1,000 and $15,000 worth of stock in gilead sciences, a pharmaceutical company that produces an antiviral drug used to treat covid-19, before the threat from the coronavirus was fully understood by the public; his disclosure of this transaction came 16 months after the legal deadline set forth in the stock act, a law that combats insider trading. paul's office stated that the disclosure form was filled up on time, but by mistake was not submitted. this purchase was the only stock in an individual company that paul or his wife bought in the previous 10 years. in september 2020, paul was the lone republican to vote against the covid-19 aid package introduced by senator mitch mcconnell, joining the democrats who unanimously voted against it. paul's grievance with the bill was the accumulation to the debt it would have triggered. after the 2020 presidential election, paul refused to accept democratic candidate joe biden's victory against trump and falsely claimed that the election was "stolen." 117th congress (2021–2023) initially, paul insisted that the 2020 elections were fraudulent, and in december 2020, claimed that the election "in many ways was stolen." later, he accepted the state-certified electors that named biden. in a press release and during the electoral college session to count the vote, which followed the 2021 united states capitol attack, paul argued that the electoral college is an indispensable friend of democracy in checking the danger of centralized power in deciding elections. he additionally condemned the attack while it occurred, calling it "violence and mob rule" and "un-american." he blamed the rioters as setting back election reform discussions and asked them to "just stop it." later that month, paul continued to make false claims of fraud in the 2020 election and refused to say that the election was not stolen. in the subsequent second impeachment trial of trump, which sought to convict him on charges of incitement of insurrection, paul questioned the constitutionality of it due to trump having left office by the time it reached the senate, as well as defending him against the charges, "i want democrats to raise their hands if they have ever given a speech that says 'take back,' 'fight for your country,' who hasn't