Andy Ngo, the conservative writer whose public beating during a rally in Portland caught the nation’s attention last month, said Thursday that he suffered a brain injury during the assault.

“The most serious injury to me was my brain in the course of the mob beating, so going forward I will be having various forms of neurophysical therapy and speech therapy to address some of the neurological challenges that I’ll be having," Ngo told The Hill.

Ngo, an editor at the publication Quillette, was punched and kicked by people clad in black during a gathering in downtown Portland on June 29. Video of the assault went viral and drew rebukes from liberal and conservative politicians across the United States.

The beating also thrust Ngo from a relatively small yet vocal corner of the internet into a national spotlight that has increasingly focused on militant — and often violent — political activism in Portland.

Media coverage of brawls in Portland between groups who purportedly are demonstrating for political reasons has cast a negative light on the city’s elected officials and Mayor Ted Wheeler in particular.

Wheeler has been portrayed as the leader of a lawless city, unable to stop the brawls, though he has fiercely rejected that image. The mayor, for example, has said he was out of the country when Ngo was assaulted and has always directed police officers to enforce the law and keep people safe.

That has not quelled the outrage over Ngo’s injuries. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, sent a letter this week to U.S. Attorney General William Barr calling for an investigation of Wheeler and the left-wing group antifa.

Ngo said that although the cuts and bruises he suffered on June 29 have healed, he still has memory loss and speech problems. No one has been arrested in connection to his assault.

-- Gordon R. Friedman