Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has been told to expect federal charges against his socialist neighbor who attacked the Republican senator last week, Fox News’ Shepard Smith reported on Thursday.

That prosecutors are expected to bring federal charges in the attack indicates that they may believe it was politically motivated, Smith reported. Previous media reports that the attack was over a long-standing dispute are inaccurate, Paul’s office has said.

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Paul’s attacker, 59-year-old anesthesiologist Rene Boucher, has claimed that the assault on Paul was over a “trivial matter” and had “nothing to do” with politics. (RELATED: Rand Paul’s Socialist Attacker Insists Assault Had ‘Nothing To Do’ With Politics)

Boucher’s neighbors described him as an avowed socialist known for getting into heated political arguments. Boucher’s Facebook page revealed him to hold fervent anti-Trump beliefs, stating in one post that he hopes Special Counsel Robert Mueller will “fry Trump’s gonads.”

“My family has lived here for six years now. In all the years that I have been on board we have never had any complaints at all about anything from them or against the Pauls,” one neighbor, Shawn Parker, told TheDC. “I pass by their house everyday as my family lives diagonally across the street from them. When we see Rand out riding his bike or Kelley out walking in the beautiful neighborhood we live in they have always waved or even stopped to say hello.”

Boucher pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor assault charges on Thursday, although he is expected to soon face more serious charges.

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