Paul national political director accusing Rubio deputy campaign manager of ‘assault’, as Mackinac Island police says incident ‘blown way out of proportion’

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Video footage appears to show a top official for the campaign of Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio punching the national political director of a rival candidate, Rand Paul.

The incident is alleged to have occurred during a conference on a Michigan island on Thursday night.

In a Facebook post early on Friday morning, John Yob, a Michigan-based political consultant who serves as national political director for the Paul campaign, said Rubio’s deputy campaign manager, Rich Beeson, punched him in a downtown bar on Mackinac Island.

“I ran into a guy named Rich Beeson, who frankly I didn’t even know who it was at first because he isn’t relevant in our political world,” Yob said.

“He literally physically assaulted me by punching me in the face. The state police are looking for him. I have it on video from multiple angles. This will play out in the national media in the next few hours.”

Shannon Banner, spokesperson for Michigan state police, told the Guardian it was not involved in the investigation, which is being handled by the Mackinac Island police department.



“It wasn’t a brawl,” the Mackinac Island police chief, Brett Riccinto, told the Guardian on Friday. “If anything, it was a shove. Literally, it was a shove. This thing has been blown way, way, way out of proportion.”

Riccinto, however, said a complaint had been made for assault, and it had been forwarded to the prosecutor to decide if charges would be filed. He confirmed the alleged incident occurred at Horn’s Gaslight Bar & Restaurant.

The manager of the bar declined to comment when reached by the Guardian, but an employee noted that the incident had been blown out of proportion.

“Really, nothing even happened,” she said.

A Michigan politics blogger, Brandon Hall, wrote on Friday that he witnessed the alleged episode, saying an “unprovoked” Beeson approached Yob and tried to hit him.

“Beeson missed a full-on shot but still stuck Yob’s in the face with a powerful blow near the jaw,” Hall wrote, adding that Rubio’s aide had been “heard trying to whip votes on behalf of Rubio for the Mackinac Straw Poll throughout the night”.

The Rubio campaign initially reacted in disbelief. At 12.51am, Yob sent Rubio’s campaign manager, Terry Sullivan, an email in which he wrote: “Hey man you better wake up. Beeson punched me in the face. Cops involved.”

Sullivan replied right away, thinking it was a joke.

In the morning, Sullivan followed up apologetically, writing: “I assumed you were kidding when you sent this last night. Guess I was wrong. Sorry I didn’t realize it was a real situation.”

In a statement, Yob said: “I appreciate Terry Sullivan’s change of heart this morning on the assault by his staff member and it is understandable that he would have initially thought that this was too crazy to actually be true.

“The Rubio campaign is not to blame. Today I hope that he and Senator Rubio will take action on this matter as the state police investigate.”

Rubio’s campaign spokesman, Alex Conant, said: “We are aware of initial media reports and seeking more information about what happened.”



A spokesman for Paul’s campaign said he had no comment at this time.



Later on Friday a veteran Republican operative from Arizona, Brett Mecum, posted a statement to Facebook in which he said Beeson “physically assaulted” him in 2007. Mecum said Beeson apologised for the claimed assault.

This is not the first time that Horn’s Bar has been the scene of political fisticuffs. In 2003, Mike Bishop, now a Republican US representative but at the time a state senator, was punched outside the bar, suffering concussion and a broken nose.

Bishop had attempted to board a horse-drawn carriage that was occupied by his assailant.

The Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference takes place every two years on Mackinac Island, roughly four hours north of Detroit. Officials say more than 2,000 attendees have registered to attend this year. The results of the Straw Poll will be released on Saturday night.

Six Republican presidential candidates are expected to speak: Paul, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina, Ohio governor John Kasich, and Senator Ted Cruz. Rubio is not slated to speak.

Additional reporting by Sabrina Siddiqui