On November 4, 2017, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) was violently attacked by his unhinged neighbor, Rene Boucher. The senator suffered six broken ribs, has been diagnosed with pneumonia several times and recently had part of his lung removed. In August, Senator Paul tweeted about his surgery and leave of absence from the Senate, “Unfortunately, I will have to limit my August activities. Part of my lung damaged by the 2017 assault had to be removed by surgery this weekend. The doctors, nurses, & staff at Vanderbilt University Medical Center were great. I should be able to return to the Senate in September.”
On June 15, 2018, Paul’s violent neighbor was sentenced to a measly 30 days in jail by Bill Clinton appointed District Court Judge Marianne Battani. The maximum sentence for assaulting a member of congress is ten years.
The Washington Examiner reports- The federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals declared Boucher’s 30-day sentence, “substantively unreasonable” in a ruling released today.
The recommended sentencing for Rene Boucher, 60, who is still Paul’s next-door neighbor, was 21 months of jail time, although the maximum sentence for assaulting a member of Congress is ten years. But the district court ruled that because this had been an “isolated,” “first-time action” that was “strictly a dispute between neighbors,” and because of Boucher’s “excellent background,” Boucher deserved a minor sentence.
The federal government appealed Boucher’s 30-day sentencing, arguing that the seriousness of Paul’s injuries should necessitate a harsher sentencing. The Sixth Circuit agreed and argued Boucher’s personal background — his education, family, and community service — should not have had anything to do with his sentencing.
“These factors are disfavored for good reason,” the court wrote in its opinion ordering the district court to re-sentence Boucher. “To prioritize a defendant’s education, professional success, and standing in the community would give an additional leg up to defendants who are already in a privileged position … That is why Congress and the [federal sentencing] Guidelines oppose a class-based system where accumulated wealth, education, and status serve as credits against a criminal sentence.”
The violent, unprovoked attack on Senator Rand Paul by his violent neighbor was lauded by Democrats and their allies in Hollywood and the media.
In October 2019, Senator Rand Paul’s wife, Kelley Paul, wrote a scathing open letter to Senator Cory Booker, addressing the vile reaction to her husband’s attack by Democrat lawmakers and celebrities.
Here is her letter:
It’s nine o’clock at night, and as I watch out the window, a sheriff’s car slowly drives past my home. I am grateful that they have offered to do extra patrols, as someone just posted our home address, and Rand’s cell number, on the internet — all part of a broader effort to intimidate and threaten Republican members of Congress and their families. I now keep a loaded gun by my bed. Our security systems have had to be expanded. I have never felt this way in my life.In the last 18 months, our family has experienced violence and threats of violence at a horrifying level. I will never forget the morning of the shooting at the congressional baseball practice, the pure relief and gratitude that flooded me when I realized that Rand was okay.He was not okay last November, when a violent and unstable man attacked him from behind while he was working in our yard, breaking six ribs and leaving him with lung damage and multiple bouts of pneumonia. Kentucky’s secretary of state, Alison Lundergan Grimes, recently joked about it in a speech. MSNBC commentator Kasie Hunt laughingly said on air that Rand’s assault was one of her “favorite stories.”
Cher, Bette Midler, and others have lauded his attacker on Twitter. I hope that these women never have to watch someone they love struggle to move or even breathe for months on end. Earlier this week, Rand was besieged in the airport by activists “getting up in his face,” as you, Senator Booker, encouraged them to do a few months ago. Preventing someone from moving forward, thrusting your middle finger in their face, screaming vitriol — is this the way to express concern or enact change? Or does it only incite unstable people to violence, making them feel that assaulting a person is somehow politically justifiable?
In July 2019, Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN) stunned Americans when she retweeted B-actor Tom Arnold’s tweet wishing Senator Rand Paul was more seriously injured in the violent, unprovoked attack by his unhinged neighbor.
Arnold tweeted: “Imagine being Rand Paul’s next-door neighbor and having to deal with @RandPaul lying cowardly circular whiney bullcrap about lawn clippings. No wonder he ripped his toupee off.
U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar, who frequently whines about threats she receives, retweeted Arnold’s justification of the violent attack against Senator Paul.
Rep Lee Zeldin, a Jewish Republican lawmaker from New York, who frequently calls out Omar for her anti-Semitic remarks, retweeted Omar’s disgusting retweet of the “has-never-been” actor, saying: Ilhan Omar’s brilliant Monday idea is RTing this celebration of a violent physical assault on a fellow Member of Congress who was actually attacked. Incredibly gross.
All good w you @SpeakerPelosi? Aren’t you right next to her right now on a CODEL abroad? Do something. Speak! Hold your own Members to the same standards you love to hold others.
— Lee Zeldin (@RepLeeZeldin) July 29, 2019
Violence against any person you don’t agree with is not the answer. Democrats need to stop mocking the violence against Republicans and start standing against violence against any American citizen over their political views.
