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Report: Paul Volunteer Apologizes for Attack

A supporter of Republican Rand Paul’s Senate campaign in Kentucky apologized Tuesday for attacking a liberal activist the previous day, and the campaign dropped him as a county campaign coordinator, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

The Paul campaign also banned Tim Profitt from future events.

WDRB Fox 41 posted a video of Monday’s incident, which occurred before a debate between Paul and his Democratic opponent, Jack Conway, in Lexington, Ky. In the video, Profitt and others wrestle 23-year-old Lauren Valle to the ground and rip a wig from her head, and then Profitt stomps once on her head and neck.

“I’m sorry that it came to that, and I apologize if it appeared overly forceful, but I was concerned about Rand’s safety,” Profitt told the AP. He said the video made the confrontation appear worse than it was.

Valle had been posing as a representative of RepubliCorp, a fake company invented by the liberal MoveOn.org to criticize Republican ties to corporate America. She had been trying to give Paul a RepubliCorp employee of the month “award” when she was confronted.

She said her face was swollen and her neck and shoulder were sore from the attack. Profitt said he has spoken to Lexington police and has not been charged.

Paul campaign manager Jesse Benton said the “campaign has disassociated itself with the individual who took part in this incident,” and he urged activists on both sides “to remember that their political passions should never manifest themselves in physical altercations of any kind.”

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