The Rand Paul campaign has just severed ties with their Bourbon County coordinator — a man by the name of Tim Profitt — who has identified himself as the supporter who stomped on the head and neck of a MoveOn activist outside of the Senate debate in Lexington, KY last night, according to Fox News.
Profitt apologized for the scuffle to the Associated Press this afternoon, and apparently told them that the camera angle made the incident appear worse than it really was.
The Kentucky blog “barefoot and progressive” was the first to identify Profitt as the likely assailant in a series of posts today.
TPM left a message for Profitt at his residence this afternoon, but the call was not returned before publication time.
Late update: Valle spoke to reporters this afternoon, telling them that the men who attacked her were familiar with her from other protests.
Later update: More from Profitt’s statement to the AP: “”I’m sorry that it came to that, and I apologize if it appeared overly forceful, but I was concerned about Rand’s safety.”
Brian Beutler
Brian Beutler is TPM's senior congressional reporter. Since 2009, he's led coverage of health care reform, Wall Street reform, taxes, the GOP budget, the government shutdown fight, and the debt limit fight. He can be reached at brian@talkingpointsmemo.com.
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