BLOOD SPORT
Paul Aide Says Video Proves Rubio Staffer Punched Him
Rand Paul’s political director says one of Marco Rubio’s senior aides punched him in the face at a Michigan bar early Friday.
Reuters
A video being circulated by a top adviser to Rand Paul allegedly shows him being punched in the face by a Marco Rubio staffer.
On Friday, Paul’s national political director, John Yob, sent The Daily Beast a video that he says depicts Rich Beeson—the Floridian’s deputy campaign manager—smacking him in a Michigan bar.
The video—grainy security camera footage taken at 12:10 a.m. Friday—shows a group of people milling around a bar. Then one man jabs another man in the face with his fist. You can watch below:
Sergio Gor, a spokesman for Paul’s campaign, said they had no comment on the video at this time.
Yob charges that the puncher in the video is Beeson, and that the altercation occurred on Mackinac Island in Michigan. The staffers were there in the lead-up to the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference, an annual event the state’s Republican Party hosts that brings together strategists, activists, and candidates. The Detroit News reported that the encounter happened at Horn’s Bar.
“Last night I went to a bar on Mackinac Island for the GOP Mackinac Conference,” Yob wrote on Facebook. “I ran into a guy named Rich Beeson, who frankly I didn’t even know who it was at first because he isn’t relevant in our political world. Anyway, he is Marco Rubio’s national campaign manager. He literally physically assaulted me by punching me in the face. The state police are looking for him. I have it on video, from multiple angles. This will play out in the national media in the next few hours.”
A spokeswoman for the state police said they are not investigating Beeson, and that the Mackinac police department is handling the situation. The Mackinac police department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Rubio’s campaign also didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the video.
Mackinac Island’s police chief, Brett Riccinto, told Talking Points Memo that he hasn’t seen video of the punch but said he received a complaint about an alleged assault.