Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said on Thursday that he met with GOP mega-donor and staunch pro-Israel advocate Sheldon Adelson days after it was reported that the casino magnate was looking to crush Paul as a viable candidate in 2016.
Paul told the radio program “Jewish Moments in the Morning” that he met with Adelson on Tuesday in Washington, DC. The meeting took place on the same day Paul was criticized by some conservatives for not clapping enough during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the U.S. Congress.
During the show, the senator dismissed a Feb. 24 New York Times report that said Adelson was open to “underwriting an effort to stopping Mr. Paul, should he gain traction in the primaries.”
“That’s another thing where people spread mistruth,” Paul said. “I sat down with he and his wife yesterday and they assured me there was no truth to that. That was somebody spreading falsehoods, and we have good relations and we had a great, very informative discussion.”
Paul also said that President Obama’s icy rapport with Netanyahu could tilt Jewish voters toward the Republican Party. A Gallup poll from January indicated that American Jews are increasingly drifting toward the GOP, though the study made no mention of the bumpy relationship between the two leaders.
“I think that should send a message to a lot of American Jewry that really the time to think about who supports Israel is now,” Paul said.
h/t CNN
