MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich., Sept. 18 (UPI) — A political strategist for Kentucky Sen.Rand Paul has accused an aide to fellow GOP contender Marco Rubio of punching him in the face at a Michigan bar Thursday.
GOP candidates for president will gather in Michigan this weekend for the Republican Leadership Conference. But tensions began early after the incident at the bar.
John Yob, Paul’s strategist, detailed the incident in a series of Facebook postsFriday.
“I ran into a guy named Rich Beeson … Marco Rubio’s national campaign manager. He literally physically assaulted me by punching me in the face,” Yob said in one post. “I have it on video, from multiple angles. This will play out in the national media in the next few hours.”
Police responded to the incident at the bar.
“It wasn’t a brawl. If anything, it was a shove,” Mackinac Island police Chief Brett Riccinto told Britain’s The Guardian. “Literally, it was a shove.”
“This thing has been blown way, way, way out of proportion,” he added.
In a second post to Facebook, Yob called on Rubio to fire Beeson “effective immediately.” Sen. Paul himself, though, has yet to echo that request.
“There wasn’t a brawl and the assault shouldn’t be over-sensationalized but the video speaks for itself,” he said in a third post. “He hit me in the chin as he walked by me. You can’t just go around the country in positions of political authority and get physically violent with people you don’t like. People deserve second chances but he can’t continue doing this to people.”
“We’re aware of the media reports and are seeking further information,” Rubio’s spokesman said in a statement.
Beeson, Rubio’s campaign manager, served as Mitt Romney‘s political director for the former Massachusetts governor’s 2012 White House bid.
