Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said Monday part of his lung was removed this weekend following a 2017 attack by his neighbor.
“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 wrote. “The doctors, nurses, & staff at Vanderbilt University Medical Center were great. I should be able to return to the Senate in September.”
Paul was attacked at his home in Bowling Green, Kentucky, by his neighbor Rene Boucher, an anesthesiologist and former colleague of Paul’s, on November 3, 2017, that left the senator with six broken ribs and bruised lungs.
Boucher pleaded guilty in March 2018 to one felony charge of assaulting a member of Congress resulting in personal injury. He was sentenced to 30 days along with a year of supervised release, according to a case manager with Kentucky Western District federal court.
According to the plea deal, Boucher said he “had enough” after seeing the senator stack more brush onto a brush pile. In statements to the Kentucky State Police and the FBI, Boucher admitted to running onto Paul’s property and tackling the senator when he wasn’t looking.
Paul was not the only high-profile Kentucky Republican seeking medical treatment this weekend. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell fractured his shoulder Sunday after falling in his Kentucky home, his office said in a statement.
“This morning, Leader McConnell tripped at home on his outside patio and suffered a fractured shoulder,” David Popp, McConnell’s communications director, said in a statement. “He has been treated, released, and is working from home in Louisville.”
CNN’s Veronica Stracqualursi and Ashley Killough contributed to this report.
