Politics

Video: Marco Rubio Aide Punches Rand Paul Aide in the Face

By Emma Roller and National Journal

A gathering of Republican presidential staffers on Mackinac Island in Michigan Thursday night turned violent.

The incident involved Rich Beeson, a deputy campaign manager for Sen. Marco Rubio, and John Yob, Sen. Rand Paul's national political director.

Security footage from Horn's Bar, where the staffers were gathered, appears to show Beeson turning away from the bar, walking past Yob and quickly punching him in the jaw before walking away. The video begins in what appears to be the middle of a situation, but does not show what led to the confrontation.

In a pair of tweets sent this morning, Yob said the Michigan state police are looking for Beeson, and Yob is pressing charges. He also called on the Rubio campaign to fire Beeson.

In an email chain between Yob and Terry Sullivan forwarded to National Journal, Rubio's campaign director, Terry Sullivan, appears to think Yob is joking.

The email chain starts with Yob telling Sullivan: "Hey man, you better wake up. Beeson punched me in the face. Cops involved."

Sullivan's response, six minutes later: "Well that if you were talking shit I'm glad he did. Besides. We need more space and wanna take over your townhouse when Rand is done."

The next morning, as news of the fight started circulating, Sullivan sent another email apologizing to Yob.

"I assumed you were kidding when you sent this last night," Sullivan said. "Guess I was wrong. Sorry I didn't realize it was a real situation."

Yob said he understood why Sullivan wouldn't have believed his story at first.

"It is understandable that he would have initially thought that this was too crazy to actually be true," Yob told National Journal. "The Rubio campaign is not to blame. Today, I hope that he and Senator Rubio will take action on this matter as the state police investigate."

We've reached out to Rubio's campaign for comment and will update if we hear back.