Rand Paul ends Q&A when pressed on GOP voters' views on race and policing

The Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul walked out of a live interview with the Guardian on Friday, in his third testy exchange with a journalist since launching his campaign for president three days ago.

The Kentucky senator abruptly ended the interview when he was pressed over whether his campaign focus on the racial imbalances of criminal justice reform would win him support among Republicans.

“I think your premise is incorrect,” he said, in the interview in Iowa City. “Actually, I think I can take that message into a white evangelical church anywhere in Iowa and give exactly the same speech and be received well.”

When the reporter attempted a follow-up remark – referring to a December Washington Post-ABC poll that showed roughly two-thirds of Republicans to believe minorities receive the same treatment as whites under the criminal justice system – Paul walked out of shot.

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Seconds later, the lights were turned off by a CNN producer who was about to begin another interview with the candidate.

Paul’s campaign team had agreed to an interview, which would be broadcast live on the smartphone app Periscope, that would last between six and eight minutes. Paul ended the exchange after four minutes and 50 seconds.

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Whether Paul’s focus on an unequal criminal justice system – a stance praised by liberals and some Democrats – will appeal to white Republican voters is an issue of some debate.

A Washington Post analysis of Paul’s focus on criminal justice this week said the December poll “raises the question of whether the issue would resonate with an overwhelmingly white GOP primary electorate”.

Friday’s awkward appearance was Paul’s third difficult encounter with a journalist in as many days, leading to questions about his temperament under fire.

Paul launched his campaign in Kentucky on Tuesday, before a five-state tour that will end in Nevada on Saturday. On Wednesday, in New Hampshire, Paul turned combative when NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie pointed out his foreign policy positions had changed on the threat posed by Iran and foreign aid to Israel. Paul cut Guthrie off, accused her of “editorialising” and suggesting better ways the journalist could have posed her question.

Later on Wednesday, the Associated Press, which also interviewed Paul in New Hampshire, reported the senator “grew testy” when pressed over his position on abortion. In February, Paul was criticised for his condescending approach to CNBC anchor Kelly Evans, in a widely viewed exchange in which the senator told her to “calm down”.

The Periscope interview with the Guardian on Friday opened with a question about Hillary Clinton’s imminent announcement of her run for the Democratic nomination.

“I think she’s going to have a difficult time,” he said. “One of the obstacles she’s going to have is people want their commander-in-chief to defend the county.”

He pointed to her alleged “failure” to protect the US mission in Benghazi before the September 2012 attack by Islamic militants.

Turning to criminal justice issues – the agreed topic of the interview – Paul said he was “horrified” by the video which emerged this week of a police officer shooting an unarmed black man, Walter Scott, in South Carolina, and emphasized the benefits of body-worn cameras.

However the discussion became awkward when Paul was asked to give a “an example of a specific law” he would want repealed because it discriminated against minorities.

At his campaign launch in Kentucky, Paul pledged: “I see an America where criminal justice is applied equally, and any law that disproportionately incarcerates people of color is repealed.”

Questioned about this, Paul did not point to any specific law, but said the reference was “primarily really to non-violent drug laws”.

He added: “You look at broad surveys of ... who uses illegal drugs among teenagers, it’s really about the same percentage of white kids, as it is of black kids and Hispanic kids. But when you look at the prison population, turns out our prisons are full of poor people and a disproportional amount of African Americans and Hispanics.”

Asked for a more specific answer about a piece of legislation he would repeal, Paul said he supported “a host of bills” that would repeal or amend various aspects of the criminal justice system.

Before the reporter had the chance to ask again about a specific law he would fully repeal, Paul replied: “Let me answer the question. You complain that I don’t answer the question ... I am giving you the specifics.”

He then added: “I’ve got time for one more question.”

The senator’s decision to walk off camera shortly after that question was asked, refusing to engage with a follow-up and declining to wait for the interview to be wrapped up, caused some controversy on Twitter.

Paul, an active Twitter user, promoted his interview with the Guardian via his account earlier in the day, and his team plugged the interview once the live broadcast was underway.

Later, Paul tweeted to make clear his team had not turned off the lights at the end of the interview.

“We didn’t turn the lights off and neither did my staff,” he said. “CNN producers did. It was time for my interview with @DanaBashCNN – Team Rand.”