Sen. Rand Paul’s wife, Kelley Paul, penned an open letter Wednesday condemning the rhetoric of Sen. Cory Booker and others, describing how the escalation of violent political tactics has affected her family.
In an op-ed addressed to Booker and published by CNN, Paul wrote that “in the last 18 months, our family has experienced violence and threats of violence at a horrifying level.”
She explained that she now sleeps with a loaded gun beside her bed, and that police do extra patrols around her home. Rand Paul was among the several lawmakers whose personal information was recently leaked online, according to a spokesman for the senator who spoke to the Courier-Journal.
Paul recounted her experience when a gunman opened fire on GOP lawmakers at a baseball game in June 2017, where her husband was present. “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,” she wrote. (RELATED: Shooting At GOP Baseball Practice Latest In Pattern Of Violence Against Republicans)
“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,” Paul continued. She described how her husband’s ordeal was mocked by some on the left, including Kentucky’s secretary of state. (RELATED: Neighbors Say Rand Paul’s Attacker Was Avowed Socialist)
Paul also noted that her husband was “besieged” this week by protesters at an airport and blamed Booker’s call to “get up in the face of congresspeople” for encouraging such behavior.
“Preventing someone from moving forward, thrusting your middle finger in their face, screaming vitriol — is this the way to express concern or enact change?” Paul asked. “Or does it only incite unstable people to violence, making them feel that assaulting a person is somehow politically justifiable?”
Paul called on Booker to retract his statement.