Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) told “Fox & Friends” host Steve Doocy on Friday that he believes the mob attack on him last night in Washington, D.C., could be part of a larger criminal conspiracy involving “interstate criminal traffic being paid for across state lines.”
“They were yelling threats. They were trying to push the police over to get to me,” Paul said. “They were grabbing at us, and it got worse and worse and worse, and then finally, we decided to make a move. I said we’ve got to move. If there’s not gonna be reinforcements, we have to try to get to the hotel, which was another block, and they were shouting threats to us, to kill us, to hurt us, but they were also saying, shouting, ‘Say her name, Breonna Taylor,’ and it’s like, you couldn’t reason with this mob, but I’m actually the author of the Breonna Taylor law to end no-knock raids.”
“So, the irony is lost on these idiots that they are trying to kill the person whose actually trying to get rid of no-knock raids—and they were shouting and screaming and just, really, these people were unhinged, but I can’t tell you how, I’m not sure we would have made it,” Paul continued. “So, as we’re walking sort of surrounded by the police, they’re attempting to push the police over to get to me. So at one point, they push a policeman backwards, he stumbles, and he’s trying to catch his balance and I catch the back of his flak jacket to stabilize him and make sure that he’s okay because he’s our defense. If he’s down, the mob is loose on us, and you’ve seen the pictures of what they do to you.”
“If the police are not there, if you defund the police, if we become Portland, if America becomes Portland, what’s going to happen is people are going to be pummeled and kicked in the head and left senseless on the curb,” Paul continued. “That would have happened to us, I promise you, had we not had the D.C. Police to support us, we are thankful that we have police, and we’ve got to wake up. We can’t have the whole country—we can’t have Joe Biden rule the country and have no police. I mean, we can’t walk down the street in D.C. safely now. That’s how bad it is.”
Paul later added that while it sounds “over-the-top,” he believes “we’re going to find out that these people are hired and from out of town, specifically in our case, I believe there are going to be people who are involved with the attack on us that actually were paid to come here, are not from Washington, D.C., and are sort of paid to be anarchists.”
“This is disturbing because really, if you’re inciting a riot, that’s a crime, but if you’re paying someone to incite a riot, that person needs to go to jail as well, but we can’t live this way,” Paul continued. “It’s become so dangerous for us, and I don’t hear Joe Biden or Kamala Harris saying one thing about the violence. This mob is their voters. This is the new Democrat Party, and if we don’t resist this, United States is going to become Portland. We’re going to become Chicago. All of these failed cities Democrats have run—the president said it in his speech—if we allow them to take over the White House, we are going to become Portland, the country will be on fire. We have to have law and order and we have to support the police. I can’t say that strong enough.”
“There’s something going on here,” Paul later added. “This is like, the FBI needs to be involved.”
When asked what he meant, Paul responded, “My feeling is that there is interstate criminal traffic being paid for across state lines, but you won’t know it unless you arrest them.”
“Otherwise you just think ‘Oh, these are some normal hoodlums from a big city,’” Paul continued. “I promise you that at least some of the members and the people who attacked us were not from D.C. They flew here on 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,” Paul continued. “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, and look, I’ve been for reform.”
WATCH:
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) says he believes that those who attacked him last night were paid agitators from out of town and that they would have killed him and his wife if it wasn’t for the police pic.twitter.com/TdVmuuxk7m
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) August 28, 2020
TRANSCRIPT:
FOX NEWS HOST STEVE DOOCY: You can tell that man behind the mask is Rand Paul—a bunch of protesters descending on the Kentucky senator and his wife Kelly as they left the president’s RNC speech from the White House. Actually, it was a longer trip than that. He joins us right now for his first live interview since that confrontation. Senator, good morning. That looks scary.
SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): Yeah, you know, my wife and I, it was horrific, and we had two women with us who were friends of ours. We had looked out, you know, we came out of the speech, and we looked into the street. Our hotel was right across the street from the White House, but we couldn’t go because the mob was already chasing people down that chose to go out that exit. So, the Secret Service says, ‘Get on a bus and ride to the Trump hotel.’
So, we got on a bus; it took 45 minutes to get through all the mobs, we get there safely, and then we say we’ll get an Uber to go all the way back where we came from and we wanted to be dropped off at the hotel, but as we got close to it, the streets were blocked and no one would let us through and what happened is there was two blocks and I regret that I made this decision, but I said we’re going to walk the two blocks. We walked one block, but as we walked one block, we could see some police in the distance, but we also saw a mob of about 30 people marching and yelling. They all of a sudden saw me, right as we got to the policeman fortunately or I don’t think we would have survived, we got to the policeman, and the policeman I don’t think recognized me and as they came closer they were shouting my name and the crowd doubled to 60 and then it doubled again to 120, and as they were surrounding us and it got closer and closer and everybody kept pushing back, the policemen were forming a barricade with their bodies and I whispered, they know who I am you’ve got to get reinforcements it’s going to get worse.
He called for reinforcements but we didn’t get any reinforcements, we waited, but the crowd was getting bigger and bigger and pushing in. They were yelling threats. They were trying to push the police over to get to me. They were grabbing at us, and it got worse and worse and worse, and finally, we decided to make a move. I said we’ve got to move. There’s not reinforcement we have to try to get to the hotel which was another block and they were shouting threats to us, to kill us, to hurt us, but also threats saying shout, shouting ‘say her name, Breonna Taylor,’ and it’s like you couldn’t reason with this mob but I’m actually the author of the Breonna Taylor law to end no knock raids. So, the irony is lost on these idiots that they are trying to kill the person whose actually trying to get rid of no knock raids and they were shouting and screaming and just, really these people were unhinged, but I can’t tell you how, I’m not sure we would have made it. So, as we’re walking sort of surrounded by the police, they’re attempting push the police over to get to me, so at one point they push a policeman backwards, he stumbles and he’s trying to catch his balance and I catch the back of his flak jacket to stabilize him to make sure he’s okay because he’s our defense. If he’s down the mob is loose on us, and you’ve seen the pictures of what they do to you. If the police are not there, if you defund the police, if we become Portland, if America becomes Portland, what’s going to happen is people are going to be pummeled and kicked in the head and left senseless on the curb. That would have happened to us, I promise you, had we not had the D.C. Police to support us, we are thankful we have police, and we’ve got to wake up. We can’t have the whole country. We can’t have Joe Biden rule the country and have no police. I mean, we can’t walk down the street in D.C. safely now. That’s how bad it is.
DOOCY: I saw one police officer was actually using his bicycle to try to keep the crowd back. He fell into you, you almost stumbled and fell down. You and your wife are both okay, right?
PAUL: We are. We were unharmed, but you know it’s still going on this morning. There’s still mobs in the street blocking the streets, and I know it sounds like over-the-top to say that people from out of town, but I think we’re going to find out that these people are hired and from out of town. Specifically in our case, I believe they are going to be people who are involved with the attack on us that actually were paid to come here, are not from Washington, D.C., and are sort of paid to be anarchists. This is disturbing because, really, if you’re inciting a riot, that’s a crime, but if you’re paying someone to incite a riot, that person needs to go to jail, as well. But we can’t live this way. It’s getting worse and worse. I like being free to be able to walk out and go for a walk in the park. We cannot go outside now. It’s become so dangerous for us and I don’t hear Joe Biden or Kamala Harris saying one thing about the violence. This mob is their voters. This is the new Democrat Party, and if we don’t resist this, the United States is going to become Portland. We’re going to become Chicago. All of these failed cities Democrats have run, the president said in his speech, if we allow them to take over the White House, we are going to become Portland, the country will be on fire, we have to have law and order and we have to support the police. I can’t say that strong enough.
DOOCY: Senator, some of the papers today are reporting that what was being yelled at you was, as you said, “Say her name, Breonna Taylor.” You know, you said there were obscenities. I would not like you to repeat those, but you said there were threats. Tell us what the threats were.
PAUL: Well the threats were to ‘F you up,’ you know, ‘to kill you.’ The threats were if they could get a hold of you, and I truly believe this with every fiber of my being, had they gotten at us they would have gotten us to the ground. We might not have been killed, might just have been injured by being kicked in the head, or kicked in the stomach until we were senseless, you’ve seen the pictures. Most of the networks will not show the pictures of this. This is happening in all of our cities, and it’s got to stop, and thank God for the police. Had we not gotten to the police, I truly believe that the police saved our lives and we would not be here today or we’d be in a hospital today had the police not been there and I’d like to thank them, if they’re watching this. We thanked them last night but it was still a melee, they were still trying to get people away from us, you know, even in the hotel. People were following us into the hotel.
DOOCY: Well, let me ask you this as an exit question. Given the fact that you said these people are still on the streets, protesters are still on the streets, and we heard from Griff Jenkins about half-an-hour ago, apparently a number of businesses in Washington, D.C., are boarded up, because they are worried about trouble going forward. Does a prominent Republican, like yourself, somebody whose very recognizable, need to have security to simply walk in the streets of Washington, D.C., or major cities in America?
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, you know, the life of a normal person where I go to the grocery store and buy groceries or stop at the minute 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 involved.
DOOCY: What do you mean, somethings 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 it 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 on a plane with 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 an I’m not saying forever, but 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, and look, I’ve been for reform. I’ve authored 22 criminal justice reforms. They were yelling at me, ‘We’re not going to let you go alive unless you’ll say you’re for criminal justice reform,’ and I’m like, ‘You idiot, you are so dense that you have no idea that I’ve been a leading advocate for criminal justice reform, with President Obama, with President Trump, and you’re going to try to kill me and I’ve been trying to help the problems?’ So this is what’s sad, but it’s such lawlessness. If we have this kind of lawlessness, I would say people are going to get killed. People have been killed. You know, the former police chief story, was so sorrowful to listen to his wife that was killed in St. Louis. The little girl Secoriea Turner, 8 years old, was shot in the middle of the day in Atlanta because they took a wrong turn, but they had let the mob take over a street corner, armed. We can’t let our cities be taken over by these marauders and thugs.