Rand Paul returns to the Senate following assault at his Kentucky home

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said that he will return to the Senate on Monday following an alleged assault at his Kentucky home earlier this month.

What did Paul say?

Paul wrote on Twitter that he and his wife, Kelley Paul, “want to thank everyone once again for your thoughts and prayers for my recovery.”

“While I’m still in a good deal of pain, I will be returning to work in the Senate today, ready to fight for liberty and help move forward with tax cuts in the coming days and weeks,” Paul said.

What happened?

Paul was allegedly assaulted by one of his neighbors. He reportedly suffered six broken ribs among other injuries.

According to The Hill, Rene Boucher — who has been Paul’s neighbor for 17 years — pleaded not guilty on Thursday to a fourth-degree assault charge. Boucher’s lawyer claimed the incident was over a “trivial matter,” not the senator’s politics. Boucher is due back in court on Nov. 30 for a pretrial hearing.

Doug Stafford, Paul’s senior adviser, pushed back against the claim last week, as well as reports that the neighbors were in an ongoing dispute over landscaping.

“As to reports of a longstanding dispute with the attacker, the Pauls have had no conversations with him in many years,” Stafford said in a statement. “The first 'conversation’ with the attacker came after Sen. Paul’s ribs were broken.”

“This was not a fight, it was a blindside, violent attack by a disturbed person,” Stafford said of the incident. “Anyone claiming otherwise is simply uninformed or seeking media attention.”