FBI investigating suspicious package sent to Rand Paul's home
The FBI is investigating a suspicious package delivered to Senator Rand Paul's Bowling Green, Kentucky home, reports CBS Louisville affiliate WLKY. A large envelope containing what appeared to be a white powder arrived Monday.
Authorities are attempting to determine whether the envelope's contents are hazardous.
Paul, a Republican, tweeted about the package Monday night, saying he had been "a repeated target of violence."
"I take these threats immensely seriously," Paul wrote.
I take these threats immensely seriously. As a repeated target of violence, it is reprehensible that Twitter allows C-list celebrities to encourage violence against me and my family. https://t.co/e1rQ6uwPdf
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) May 24, 2021
Paul and his family were threatened in 2018 while he was at a stop in Leitchfield, Kentucky. Paul said a man threatened to kill him and "chop up" his family with an ax. The year before, Paul suffered multiple broken ribs and damaged a lung when he was tackled by Rene Boucher.
The 2017 attack was described as having escalated from a dispute between neighbors.
Paul subsequently suffered from pneumonia and underwent multiple medical procedures, including a hernia surgery related to the assault.
Boucher pleaded guilty to assaulting a member of Congress and served a 30-day sentence at a federal prison in Illinois. Paul was awarded more than $580,000 in damages and medical expenses by a jury in 2019 after filing a lawsuit against Boucher.