Rand Paul Thanks Police After Being ‘Attacked’ By Protesters Near The White House
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is thanking Washington, D.C., police for saving his life after he was “attacked by an angry mob” of protesters outside the White House, ABC News reported.
Paul spent Thursday night and part of the early morning on Friday listening to President Donald Trump’s closing statements at the Republican National Convention. As he and his wife, Kelley, left the building and attempted to get to their hotel across the street, they were confronted by a gathering of people, estimated to be about 100 strong.
In video taken by a bystander, the crowd could be heard yelling, “say her name!” and “Breonna Taylor!” Taylor was a 26-year-old, unarmed Black woman who was shot to death by police in her bed in a botched raid; the incident took place in Kentucky, the state Paul represents.
BLM inc. just assaulted US Senator Rand Paul who has been shot at before and hospitalized because of his Republican beliefs
This is Joe Biden's party targeting Trump supporters.
If you give them power, they will attack all of us.
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) August 28, 2020
Officers from the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia positioned themselves between the Pauls and the crowd, periodically shouting “move back!” to the protesters. One officer used his bicycle to keep the crowd from the couple; at one point, a protester appeared to make contact with the bike, causing the officer to briefly lose his balance and use Paul’s arm to keep from falling.
Paul would later tell Fox News in an interview that, if the officer had fallen, the situation could have ended much worse.
“If he’s down, the mob’s loose on us,” he said.
At no point do any of the protesters appear to make contact with the senator or his wife.
In a tweet, Paul thanked the police for saving his life.
“Just got attacked by an angry mob of over 100, one block away from the White House. Thank you to @DCPoliceDept for literally saving our lives from a crazed mob,” he wrote.
In his Fox News interview, he equated the incident to calls that have come up in some segments to defund the police.
“If the police are not there, if you defund the police, if we become Portland, if America becomes Portland, what’s going to happen is people are going to be pummeled and kicked in the head and left senseless on the curb. That would have happened to us — I promise you,” he said.
He’s calling on the FBI to make arrests and conduct an investigation into the incident.
In 2017, Paul was assaulted by a neighbor while mowing his lawn. In the attack, the senator suffered five broken ribs and part of his lung had to be removed.
