Skip to content
RollCall logo

Congress

Sen. Rand Paul has part of lung removed, injury stems from 2017 assault

Paul suffered an injured lung after a neighbor tackled him to the ground

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., leaves the Senate after speaking on the Senate floor about the budget deal on Wednesday, July 31, 2019. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., leaves the Senate after speaking on the Senate floor about the budget deal on Wednesday, July 31, 2019. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
By Emily Kopp
Posted August 5, 2019 at 8:30am

Both senators from Kentucky are on the mend.

Republican Sen. Rand Paul announced Monday that he is recovering from a surgery to treat injuries from his 2017 assault.

“Unfortunately, I will have to limit my August activities. Part of my lung damaged by the 2017 assault had to be removed by surgery this weekend,” Paul said in a tweet. The doctors, nurses, & staff at Vanderbilt University Medical Center were great. I should be able to return to the Senate in September”

Paul suffered six broken ribs and an injured lung after a neighbor tackled him to the ground in late 2017 over what the man said was a dispute about lawn care. Rene Boucher pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal charges of assaulting a member of Congress.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell fractured a shoulder Sunday morning when he tripped outside his home in Louisville, Kentucky, his spokesman said in a statement. 

Recent Stories

House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., at left, placed a new restriction on earmarks for nonprofits amid GOP concerns about LGBTQ programs. Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call

Nonprofits take a hit in House earmark rules

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer says Micron’s New York plant will revive manufacturing in an area that has faced an economic downturn.

Micron gets combined $13.6 billion grant, loan for chip plants

A flag with the EPA logo flies in front of the agency.

EPA says its new strict power plant rules will pass legal tests

Women’s March holds a die-in outside the U.S. Supreme Court before oral arguments in Moyle v. United States on Wednesday. The case challenges a federal law that requires hospitals to perform an emergency abortion when needed to resolve a patient’s medical emergency.

Case highlights debate over ‘life of the mother’ exception

Health care workers hold signs outside the Supreme Court on Wednesday before oral arguments over a federal law that requires hospitals to perform an emergency abortion when needed to resolve a patient’s medical emergency.

Supreme Court split on Idaho abortion ban in emergency rooms

Rep. Donald M. Payne Jr., D-N.J., stands near a picture of himself and his late father, former Rep. Donald M. Payne, in his Cannon House Office Building office in 2016.

Donald Payne Jr., who filled father’s seat in the House, dies at 65