The son of Sen. Rand Paul apologized on Wednesday after a NOTUS reporter detailed his stunning tirade against “Jews” the evening prior at a D.C. restaurant, all aimed at a GOP congressman.
William Paul, who served as a House staffer until just a year ago, wrote a message on X explaining that he would seek treatment for alcohol abuse after the incident. In the post, he admitted at one point that he was drunk.
NOTUS reporter Reese Gorman revealed on Wednesday afternoon that the younger Paul verbally accosted Rep. Mike Lawler, a swing-district New York Republican, at an unnamed restaurant in downtown Washington, D.C., on Tuesday evening and began ranting at him about various issues.
His primary point of anger appeared to be around the campaign to oust Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky ally of Sen. Paul, currently being targeted by the pro-Israel AIPAC group as well as President Donald Trump himself in his Republican House primary race. NOTUS reported that William told Lawler that if Massie lost, it was because of “your people,” to which Lawler responded, “My people?”
“Yeah. You Jews,” the senator’s son angrily responded.
NOTUS then reported that Lawler reminded Paul’s son that he isn’t Jewish: “Do you think I’m Jewish? I’m not.”
“Oh wow, I’m so sorry for calling you a Jew,” William Paul reportedly responded.
According to NOTUS, the confrontation continued for several minutes, with Paul reportedly ranting that Jews were “anti-American”. At one point, Lawler tried to end it, waving Paul off: “Well, you just seem to hate Jews, so there’s no point arguing anymore.”
Paul “shoved his finger in Lawler’s face”, NOTUS reported, and said: “Don’t put words in my mouth, Mike Lawler, I never said that.”
The next day, William Paul responded on his X hours after NOTUS’s story was published, and well after he was contacted for comment first by NOTUS and then by other news outlets, including The Independent.
“Last night, I had too much to drink and said some things that don’t represent who I really am. I’m sorry and today I am seeking help for my drinking problem,” William wrote, tagging Gorman, Lawler, and a New York Post journalist.
Massie’s primary is a contentious one for the Republican Party, as he has accused AIPAC of trying to oust him at the behest of the Israeli government due to his opposition to sending arms or other funding to Israel.
The congressman has more than just Israel against him, though, after he opposed Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” last year. He, like Paul, has a strong libertarian streak that often leads to the pair voting against their party — though they also uniformly opposed the agenda of the Biden administration in Congress, including the Build Back Better Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.
The Independent also reached out to Sen. Paul and Rep. Lawler’s offices for comment.
The Kentucky senator spent most of the day on Capitol Hill leading a hearing on the Covid pandemic, alleging that the federal government covered up intelligence confirming the origins of the virus that killed millions.
Lawler, like Massie, is facing his own electoral gauntlet this year. The second-term Rockland- and Putnam County-area congressman represents one of the purplest districts in the nation and one of the few Republicans who represent a district won by Kamala Harris over Donald Trump in 2024.
Facing strong electoral headwinds, the congressman is hoping to strongly outperform the president’s approval rating in order to retain his seat, which is crucial to Republicans protecting a House majority.
