Rand Paul demands FBI arrest peaceful protesters for yelling at him

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) took to Fox News and Twitter on Friday to demand that protesters in Washington, D.C., be arrested by the FBI after peacefully demonstrating against him.

After attending Donald Trump’s nomination acceptance speech at the White House on Thursday night, Paul claimed on Twitter, he was “attacked by an angry mob.”

But video evidence of the encounter between Paul and protesters showed no violence or attack. The video showed that a police officer protecting Paul was jostled and stumbled into Paul’s shoulder.

Without evidence, Paul alleged that the protest came about through “criminal traffic being paid for across state lines.” He claimed that “they flew here in a plane, they’ve all got fresh new clothes, and they were paid to be here.”

“They need to be arrested, questioned,” he told Fox, and called for the FBI to find out what hotels protesters stayed in “and bills need to be subpoenaed” so that the public can know “how did you get here on a plane and staying in a fancy hotel and yet you’re acting like a criminal?”

From the Aug. 28 edition of “Fox & Friends”:

STEVE DOOCY, co-host: Does a prominent Republican, like yourself, somebody who is very recognizable, need to have security to simply walk on the streets of Washington, D.C.? Or major cities in America?

 

RAND PAUL: Probably, yes, from now on. I don’t feel it at home, at home people are so friendly, I can go to the grocery store, and I want to live the life of a normal person where I go to the grocery story and buy groceries or stop at the Minit Mart, and at home I do feel that.

But this also isn’t normal. There’s something going on here, this is like – the FBI needs to be involved here. This is an organized interstate racket.

 

DOOCY: What do you mean, something’s going on? Senator, what do you mean ‘something’s going on’? You’ve got a feeling, tell us what you think.

 

PAUL: My feeling is that there is interstate criminal traffic being paid for across state lines, but you won’t know unless you arrest them. Otherwise you just think, “Oh, these are some normal hoodlums from a big city.”

 

I promise you that at least some of the members and the people who attacked us were not from D.C., they flew here in a plane, they’ve all got fresh new clothes, and they were paid to be here.

 

It is a crime to do that and it needs to be traced, the FBI needs to investigate, but the only way you can do it is you have to arrest people. And usually we say, “Oh well, you didn’t get hurt so we’re not going to arrest them.” They were inciting a riot and they would have killed us had the police not been there.

 

They all need to be arrested, and I’m not saying forever, but they need to be arrested, questioned, they need to say, “Where are you staying?” and the bills need to be subpoenaed by a judge to say, “Who paid for your bill, how did you get here on a plane and staying in a fancy hotel and yet you’re acting like a criminal?”

 

Something’s going on here, and it’s much bigger than people think, but the bottom line is, we can’t let the United States become Portland, and that’s what my fear is: that the United States is going to be on fire if we have no police.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.