"I'm perplexed by the nomination of people who love the Iraq War so much that they would advocate for a war with Iran next," Rand Paul said.

Paul said during a press conference that he would do everything in his power to prevent the nominees from assuming their prospective roles. His reasoning stems from Pompeo's fervor for regime change wars in the Middle East, and Haspel's experience as the head of a CIA "black site" prison in Thailand.

"People complain sometimes about the filibuster—they complain about trying to obstruct. I think the debate over whether or not America is a country in favor of torture or not is an important one," Paul said. "I'm going to do everything I can to block them."