Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who last year was attacked by his neighbor and shot at along with other congressional Republicans at baseball practice, said Wednesday night that Americans "are channeling a lot of rage."
"I've been shot at; I've been mugged… I'm hoping 2018's a better year," Paul said jokingly on CBS' "Late Show" with Stephen Colbert.
"We are channeling a lot of rage on both sides, politically and otherwise, grass clippings, you name it. We're unhappy with each other. And I think sometimes we see people on television and we think that person's not human. They don't hurt, you know."
The senator then went on to describe the incident with his neighbor, which took place in November of last year.
"I wouldn't characterize it as a fight. I was attacked from behind. I was wearing hearing protection and didn't know it was coming," Paul said.
"I hadn't spoken with him in a decade. It really wasn't a sort of building, fuming thing where we had words. It was just sort of, I think he must have lost it, some kind of rage reaction.
He added: "I was very sick. I had pneumonia twice. I had trouble breathing at night. I really struggled for weeks and weeks to recover from this."
Paul developed pneumonia twice in the weeks after the attack, which left him with nine broken ribs.
Colbert later asked Paul about his describing special counsel Robert Mueller's probe as a "witch hunt" and a "distraction" for Congress, which he did not long before his attack.
"Do you think it should be ended? Do you think he should be gotten out of there? Do you think they should get rid of [Deputy Attorney General Rod] Rosenstein and release the memo and blow the whole thing up and forget it ever happened?" Colbert asked.
The senator answered that his "biggest concern" with the probe is the lack of government oversight, and that he fears Mueller has been given "too much power."
"Our intelligence community has the capability to listen to every phone call… Every one of your emails could be tracked… Every bank transaction can be tracked," he said.
"There could be bias entering into the intelligence community. We have to be very, very careful that someone gives a check and a balance, and that check and a balance should be a judge and a warrant."
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