The Republican congressman said he was out at a local Washington bar with a reporter and a friend when a man identifying himself as William Paul went on a “ten-minute diatribe” in which he said he hated Jewish and LGBTQ people.
WASHINGTON (CN) — New York Representative Mike Lawler on Wednesday shared his side of a “reprehensible” interaction with Kentucky Senator Rand Paul’s son at a D.C. bar this week, during which he hurled antisemitic and homophobic insults at the congressman.
Lawler’s take on the incident comes hours after media reports that a drunken William Paul accosted him and a journalist at the Tune Inn bar in Washington and blamed Jewish people for Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie’s difficult primary fight, among other things.
Speaking to reporters on the Capitol steps Wednesday afternoon, Lawler said he’d gone to get something to eat at the popular Hill spot with a friend and a journalist when he was approached by Paul, who identified himself as the Kentucky senator’s son. He said Paul interjected into his conversation that if Massie lost his reelection campaign “it’s because of my people.”
“I asked him, who is my people?” said Lawler. “And he yelled out, ‘Jews.’”
The congressman, who is of Irish-Italian descent, told Paul he is not Jewish, and said the senator’s son then apologized. “He goes, ‘oh, I’m sorry to accuse you of that,’ which is just a remarkable statement in and of itself,” Lawler added.
Paul proceeded to go on a “10-minute diatribe,” the New York Republican said, about Israel and Jews which he said played into “typical antisemitic tropes that so many people rely on.”
“At one point, [he] said that he hates Jews and hates gays and doesn’t care if they die,” Lawler said. “And I think that’s fucking disgusting.”
NOTUS first broke the news of Paul’s tirade against the congressman — one of their reporters was present with Lawler at the Tune Inn when he was accosted. But the Empire State Republican said he had not spoken yet with Paul’s father.
A spokesperson for Paul’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
Lawler, meanwhile, said his interaction with the senator’s son ended quickly, after which the younger Paul gave him the middle finger “and then tripped on his way out the door.”
“I think it speaks to a larger issue in society and what we’re seeing among young people and online,” Lawler said. “This is the level of hatred and vitriol that some of my Jewish colleagues experience, but also that many of my constituents experience.”
In a statement Wednesday, the Anti-Defamation League called Paul’s comments “disgusting and dangerous” and thanked Lawler for “standing up in the face of this hate.”
“[T]he fact that a member of Congress was subjected to this kind of abuse so openly is outrageous and a sigh of how far too normalized antisemitism has become,” the group said.
Lawler has been a leading voice in Congress for countering what he’s said is a trend of rising antisemitism in the U.S. — and like many lawmakers has tied hatred of the Jewish people to criticism of Israel and its war in Gaza. Last month he penned a resolution with New Jersey Representative Josh Gottheimer condemning what they called “antisemitic hate-filled rhetoric” from online personalities Hasan Piker and Candace Owens.
The lawmakers accused Piker, a massively popular Twitch streamer; and Owens, a former Daily Wire contributor who has since gone independent, of disseminating antisemitic “disinformation, commentary and political viewpoints to their millions of viewers.”
Lawler and Gottheimer’s resolution cited Piker’s past comments about Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, incursion into Israel and accused him of expressing support for the U.S.-designated terrorist group. The measure also pointed to Owens’ rhetoric including conspiracy theories about Israel controlling the U.S. government.
And the lawmakers urged social media and streaming platforms to “take appropriate steps to enforce their policies against hate speech” and antisemitic content.
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