“Shutting down the government was a dumb idea,” Paul said on Special Report Monday night. “Even though it did appear as if I was participating in it, I said it was a dumb idea.”

Paul also said that he was pressured into holding out for some concessions over the debt limit, saying, “Unconditionally raising the debt ceiling, nobody at home wants me to vote for that, and I can’t vote for that. But the conundrum is, if I don’t, we do approach these deadlines.”