Rand Paul: Covington Students Taking ‘All Sorts of Abuse’ They Don’t Deserve

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Monday spoke out against those who rushed to judgment over a viral video showing a confrontation between a group of Catholic high school students and a Native American activist at a pro-life event over the weekend, saying the Covington Catholic High School students have been subjected to “all sorts of abuse” they do not deserve.

The initial video shows the students hanging out on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March for Life rally in Washington, D.C., as Nathan Phillips, a, is seen beating a drum as he approaches them.

One of the students, Nick Sandmann, is seen wearing a red Make America Great Again hat and grinning while standing in front of the Native American man. Some of Sandmann’s peers can be seen cracking jokes and making hand gestures that some say were intended to make fun of Philips.

Media pundits across the political spectrum almost immediately began condemning the students. However, alternative video shows that the kids were not only verbally accosted by a religious sect, the Black Hebrew Israelites, as the situation unfolded, but were also approached by Philips first, not the other way around.

“Please see this thread from my friend and the Congressman representing Covington, Kentucky. I urge everyone to stop going after people online with very little information, but rather carefully consider the facts here,” Paul wrote on Twitter. “These kids are taking all sorts of abuse they do not deserve.”

The Kentucky Republican urged his 2.4 million-plus Twitter followers to read Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-KY) defense of the students. Massie said that while he was troubled by the viral video, he chose to wait for additional facts to come in before commenting.

“I’ve now watched over an hour of other videos from 4 different cameras of the incident in front of the Lincoln Memorial. I urge everyone to watch the other videos before passing judgement. Would you have remained that composed at that age under those circumstances?” the congressman, whose districts includes Covington Catholic, asked.

“In the context of everything that was going on (which the media hasn’t shown) the parents and mentors of these boys should be proud, not ashamed, of their kids’ behavior. It is my honor to represent them,” he concluded.