A woman was arrested in Florida over the weekend for allegedly attacking Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) at an event that the congressman was attending with his wife.
The Walton County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the report in a statement on Tuesday afternoon, saying that officers “responded to an incident at an event in Miramar Beach Saturday involving Representative Matt Gaetz.”
“A 41-year-old Tallahassee woman, Selena Chambers, was arrested after it was found she intentionally threw a glass of wine at Representative Gaetz after shouting obscenities at him,” police said. “She was charged with battery on an elected official and issued a $1,000 bond. She was released the following day.”
The @WCSOFL is confirming reports that our agency responded to an incident at an event in Miramar Beach Saturday involving Representative Matt Gaetz.
A 41-year-old Tallahassee woman, Selena Chambers, was arrested after it was found she intentionally threw a glass of wine at… pic.twitter.com/ZD9kalzjVM
— Walton Co. Sheriff (@WCSOFL) May 2, 2023
Gaetz said in a statement that Chambers is a “registered Democrat and self-described member of the ‘Resistance.’”
Gaetz later released a lengthy video statement saying that it was festival season right now in Northwest Florida, which he described as centering around seafood, art, culture, and wine.
“This past Saturday, my wife Ginger and I attended the South Walton Beaches Wine & Food Festival at Grand Boulevard in Sandestin in Walton County, Florida, and we were enjoying catching up with new friends and old, and folks recognized me and so we were taking pictures and having polite conversations,” he said. “And as I was chatting with one gentleman, a lady threw a drink on the both of us, and she was promptly arrested.”
Gaetz said that the Walton County Sheriff’s Office acted quickly, which stopped the incident from escalating.
“And I want folks to know why we press charges in circumstances like this,” he said. “It’s quite alright for folks to let their voice [be] heard with an opinion or a comment, folks can shout and scream all they want. This is America, and people ought to be able to say what they believe, what they desire, even offer criticisms or critiques of people in public life.”
“But if we start allowing stuff to be thrown or hurled, if we allow people to be harmed, there is a severe risk of escalation and accident, and we don’t want to see anyone in harm’s way, whether it’s family members, supporters, or even our detractors, we want them to be safe, too,” he continued. “But when they really cross the Rubicon, beyond just words, to throwing stuff, and striking me and striking a gentleman I was speaking with with a drink, well, then that really has caused harm to our community and it’s something that we want to contain and extinguish and not see going forward.”
Gaetz said that the suspect was a “left-wing author,” who he said was “very obsessed with Donald Trump.”
“And she began — engaged in something called resistance expression,” he said. “And I’m quoting directly from one of our works here, ‘resistance is expression that can take a physical form.’ She’s also a donor to the Joe Biden presidential campaign, as she talked about her emotional turmoil following the 2016 election, and just going through some of the stuff she’s written, it is really bizarre.”
“She writes about feminist surrealism, and I had to review what what that entailed,” he added. “And she says that women need a surrealist survivor kit. And it needs to include psychoanalysis, mythology, memoirs, Sadeianism, there’s connections to Wiccan life in some of this, so, very strange.”
BREAKING: Tallahassee Woman Arrested and Charged with Assaulting Congressman Matt Gaetz on Saturday Evening, Gaetz Issues Statement in Response
“I will never allow the safety of Northwest Floridians to be compromised. I will be pressing charges against this individual in order… pic.twitter.com/lXccJypznU
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) May 2, 2023