Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is recovering after being assaulted at his Kentucky home on Friday, joining a growing list of lawmakers who have been injured or threatened with violence this year.
Paul, a second-term senator, suffered a minor injury when he was assaulted at his Warren County, Kentucky, home Friday afternoon. Kelsey Cooper, Paul’s Kentucky-based communications director, said in a statement Saturday that the senator “was blindsided and the victim of an assault. The assailant was arrested, and it is now a matter for the police.”
Kentucky State Police charged 59-year-old Rene Boucher with fourth-degree assault with a minor injury. He is being held at Warren County jail on $5,000 bond, state police said.
Paul and Boucher live in the same gated community along Rivergreen Lane in Bowling Green, Kentucky, said two people close to Paul who asked for anonymity out of respect for the senator. Boucher is an anesthesiologist who has been recovering from injuries related to a recent bike accident, said one of the people close to Paul.
He is the inventor of the Therm-a-Vest, a cloth vest partially filled with rice and secured with Velcro straps that is designed help with back pain, according to the Bowling Green Daily News.
Troopers responded to Paul’s house at 3:21 p.m. Friday after reports of an assault. Upon arrival, troops determined Boucher “had intentionally assaulted Paul causing a minor injury,” state police said.
Paul, 54, has served in the Senate since 2011. He is an ophthalmologist who has practiced in Bowling Green, where he moved with his wife in 1993. He ran unsuccessfully for president in 2016, focusing the closing months of his bid on attacking then-candidate Donald Trump and his readiness for office. In recent months, he was a lead opponent of Republican attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. But more, recently Paul has emerged as a leading defender of Trump’s policies and has golfed with the president at Trump’s Virginia golf course.
It’s unclear whether the attack against Paul was politically motivated. But an unprecedented wave of threats against House and Senate lawmakers this year has prompted congressional security officials to review and follow up on thousands of threatening messages to members of both parties.
The threats turned to violence this summer when House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., was shot and nearly killed by a gunman who showed up at a congressional baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia.
More recently, Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., skipped several days of votes after threats made against her after she sparred with Trump over the treatment of the widow of a soldier killed in Niger.
In addition to Scalise, Paul and Wilson, Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, has faced threats since suggesting that Trump should face impeachment. And several GOP lawmakers, including Sens. Jeff Flake, Ariz., and Marco Rubio, Fla., have faced threats. Rubio, another failed 2016 presidential candidate, was spotted in July walking around the U.S. Capitol with three U.S. Capitol Police officers wearing suits and ties.
The Washington Post’s Brian Fung contributed to this report.
