Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., on Sunday called for a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into the funding of recent violent protests that have sprung up across the country, echoing statements made by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who was recently attacked while with his wife during the Republican National Convention.
“The Justice Department needs to open an investigation into who is funding these violent riots,” Buck tweeted.
Buck had first addressed the issue after Paul and his wife Kelley were accosted while returning from the RNC, on the way back to their hotel.
“If the Tea Party threatened a Democratic Senator and assaulted police officers like this, it would be leading CNN,” the Colorado Republican wrote on Friday. “Every conservative politician would be asked to condemn it. Where is the outrage?”
Paul commented on the issue in an opinion piece for Fox News published on Saturday.
He revealed some of the protesters were actually staying in the same hotel — and on the same floor — as he and his wife. Some were even as close as the next room.
“They were talking about their mob activities and even saying they thought we were here on this floor,” Paul wrote. “We had to develop a 3 a.m. plan with Capitol Police to get to safety.”
“My question is: Who are these people?,” he continued. “Who paid for their hotel rooms? Who flew them in? Law enforcement needs to look at the funding of violent criminal activity like this. And national Democrats need to confront it. It’s organized. It’s paid for. It’s violent. It’s not about Black lives or any lives; it’s about anarchy and destruction.”
The GOP senator added, “The American people are starting to catch on and grow tired of it. So I ask Democratic presidential nominee former Vice President Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris this: Will you stand up finally and denounce this violence and destruction? Will you quit inciting it and urge other leaders to do the same?”
Paul’s wife also penned an op-ed — for the Washington Examiner — describing the events as the basis for “a terrifying dystopian novel.”
“The mob swarmed me and my husband, Sen. Rand Paul, in a tight circle, screaming expletives, threats, and shouting, ‘Say her name,'” Kelley wrote. “We rushed up to two police officers, and I believe that is the only thing that kept us from being knocked to the ground. Even pressed against the officers, we were greatly outnumbered.”
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She then accused The Associated Press of misrepresenting her husband’s account of the attack and said it was absurd of the media outlet to say Paul lacked evidence or proof, to back up his story.
“The Associated Press is reporting that Rand used the word ‘attack’ to describe our ordeal ‘without evidence,'” Kelley added, “This is disgusting and utter proof of their bias. When you are surrounded by throngs of people screaming in your face and preventing you from getting away, that is an attack.”