Sen. Marco Rubio: Attack of GOP canvasser politically motivated; police haven't confirmed motive
MIAMI - CBS 4 News is learning more about a man we first reported on after he was attacked in Hialeah on Sunday.
CBS4 first interviewed Christopher Monzon of Hialeah in 2017.
We were covering a story about changing the names of street signs that honored confederate generals and one-time leader of the KKK.
Monzon was at the rally holding a confederate flag and got into a shouting match with the crowd. Police arrested Monzon and charged him with aggravated assault, inciting a riot and disorderly conduct.
In a tweet Senator Marco Rubio put out Tuesday, he said, "When a Republican volunteer is savagely beaten the traditional media treats the victim as the criminal and the criminal as a nice young man who likes fishing & just made a mistake."
Police have not confirmed a motive for the violent attack. However, Rubio is referring to an article released Tuesday from our news partners at the Miami Herald. They interviewed the suspect 25-year-old Javier Lopez's mother.
His mother says she is a registered Republican and the assault wasn't about politics despite Rubio's viral tweet.
She told the Herald, "My son doesn't know anything about politics. He likes fishing," she goes on to say, "My son has never voted."
On Instagram, CBS 4 found pictures of Monzon posing with various political figures, including former President Trump's advisor Roger Stone.
Monzon has an attorney and for the second day in a row, the attorney has not returned calls from CBS4.
We wanted to ask him about this incident and Monzon's alleged past connection to white supremacist groups.
In a video from Miami's Rise News the reporter asked Monzon whether he was a Cuban American and he replied, "Yes that's correct." He continued, "Everybody that moves here needs to conform to the South. This is Federal occupied Dixie."
Reporters were invited to speak with Monzon on Monday and then that suddenly was canceled. Then we were told his father would speak. That was canceled too.
In Rubio's previous tweet, he referred to Monzon as "Our Canvasser." Now, his office claims he works for the Republican Party.
Lopez's mother also told the Herald she refuses to bail her son out of jail and wants him to take responsibility for what he did wrong.
