Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul credited police with saving his life after violent protesters attacked him and his wife as they left President Donald Trump’s speech.
Paul and his wife Kelley were leaving the White House Thursday night after the president spoke, accepting the Republican nomination to close out the Republican National Convention, when a crowd descended upon them and quickly grew in size. (RELATED: Rand Paul Harassed Outside White House By Mob Of Protesters After Trump’s RNC Speech)
Paul recounted the terrifying experience Friday morning on “Fox & Friends.”
WATCH:
Paul explained that even as they left the White House for his hotel — which was just across the street — the Secret Service had directed them to take a bus to the Trump hotel in order to avoid protesters who had been chasing people down.
Once they reached the Trump hotel, Paul planned to take an Uber back to his hotel — but the streets were blocked and the closest they could get was two blocks away. “I regret that I made this decision but I said we’re going to walk the two blocks. We walked one block, but as we walked one block, we could see some police in the distance, but we also saw a mob of about 30 people marching and yelling.”
Then, Paul said, the crowd saw him just as they reached the police — adding that he did not believe they would have survived if they had not gotten to the police at that time.
“As they came closer they were shouting my name and the crowd doubled to 60 and then it doubled again to 120, and as they were surrounding us and it got closer and closer and everybody kept pushing back, the policemen were forming a barricade with their bodies, I whispered to the policeman, ‘They know who I am you’ve got to get reinforcements, it’s going to get worse.’ He called for reinforcements but we didn’t get any reinforcements, we waited, but the crowd was getting bigger and bigger and pushing in. They were yelling threats. They were trying to push the police over to get to me. They were grabbing at us, and it got worse and worse and worse, and finally, we decided to make a move.”
Paul explained that in addition to the threats, the protesters were demanding that he “say Breonna Taylor’s name.” (RELATED: Sen. Rand Paul Introduces ‘Justice For Breonna Taylor Act’ To Fight ‘No-Knock’ Police Warrants)
“It’s like you couldn’t reason with this mob, but I’m actually the author of the Breonna Taylor Law to end no-knock raids so the irony is lost on these idiots,” he added. “That they are trying to kill the person actually trying to get rid of no-knock raids, and they were shouting and screaming and just — really these people were unhinged.”
They walked the last block completely surrounded by a crowd threatening to “f*** you up” and “kill you,” pushing against the police in an attempt to get past them to Paul and his wife.
“So at one point they push a policeman backwards, he stumbles, and he’s trying to catch his balance and I catch the back of his flak jacket to stabilize him to make sure he’s okay because he’s our defense. If he’s down, the mob is loose on us, and you’ve seen the pictures of what they do to you,” Paul concluded. “If the police are not there, if you defund the police, if we become Portland, if America becomes Portland, what’s going to happen is people are going to be pummeled and kicked in the head and left senseless on the curb. That would have happened to us, I promise you, had we not had the D.C. Police to support us.”
Paul said that even when they reached their hotel, some of the protesters attempted to follow them inside.