A top aide for Sen. Rand Paul is accusing a staffer for Sen. Marco Rubio of punching him in the face.
John Yob, the national political director for Paul’s presidential campaign, says the incident occurred early Friday morning in a bar on Mackinac Island, MI. Several of the Republican candidates are there for the Michigan Republican Leadership Conference.
“I ran into a guy named Rich Beeson, who frankly I didn’t even know who it was at first as he isn’t relevant in our political world,” Yob wrote on his Facebook page.
“Anyway, he is Marco Rubio’s national campaign manager,” he said. “He literally physically assaulted me in the face.”
“The state police are looking for him,” Rand Paul’s aide added of Beeson. “I have it on video, from multiple angles. This will play out in the national media in the next few hours.”
Yob later released the footage. The Detroit News reported on Friday that the confrontation allegedly took place at Horn’s Gaslight Bar.
“We’re aware of the initial reports and trying to find out what really happened,” Rubio spokesman Alex Conant told The Hill via email.
Horn’s Gaslight Bar owner Patti Ann Moskwa said that both of them were at fault for starting the confrontation.
“Somebody’s just trying to get more attention,” she said, according to MSNBC reporter Benjy Sarlin’s Twitter account. “It’s just two babies that can’t get along.”