Rand Paul Not a Kidnapper "In a Legal Sense," Accuser Says
An unnamed woman who told GQ Magazine that, as college students, Kentucky Republican Senate candidate Ran Paul tried "force" her to "take bong hits" tells the Washington Post that Paul never technically "kidnapped" her. She stands by her story, however, that Paul and another student took her out of her apartment and pressured her to smoke marijuana, in what was effectively a hazing ritual.
A profile of the Tea Party-backed candidate in GQ Magazine related a bizarre anecdote from Paul's days as a student at Baylor University. An unnamed woman alleged that Paul and another student went to her apartment, tied her up and took her to a creek where they told her to worship "Aqua Buddha." She also said, "They took me to their apartment and tried to force me to take bong hits."
Paul has come out swinging against the allegations. He denied he was ever involved in a kidnapping, and his campaign threatened to pursue legal action against GQ.
Greg Sargent of the Washington Post spoke with the woman who told the story to GQ. Like the magazine, Sargent refrained from revealing the woman's identity because she says she is concerned her comments could put her in danger in her line of work as a clinical psychologist. The woman told Sargent that Paul did not kidnap her "in a legal sense."
"They didn't force me, they didn't make me. They were creating this drama: 'We're messing with you,'" she said. "There was an implicit degree of cooperation in the whole thing. I felt like I was being hazed."
She added, however, that the odd event prompted her to end her relations with Paul and his friends.
The source reiterated, Sargent writes, that Paul "did not drug me... He did not force me physically in any way."
Paul campaign spokesman Jesse Benton told Sargent it was "satisfying" to see the charges of kidnapping "completely shot down," but he added, "It remains puzzling to us why the drive-by media continues to focus on an alleged 30 year old teenage prank when our nation faces high unemployment, a thirteen trillion dollar debt and are threatened with a Cap and Trade national energy tax."
