Rand Paul clashes with another reporter

The lights went out on an interview with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Friday after a tense encounter with a reporter from the Guardian.

It’s just the latest flare-up between Paul and the press in the days following Tuesday’s announcement that he’ll run for president.

{mosads}In the interview, conducted on the live streaming service Periscope, reporter Paul Lewis noted that Paul had said that laws that result in the disproportionate incarceration of minorities should be repealed.

Lewis asked Paul to name a specific law he’d like to see repealed, and the two bickered over whether Paul was answering the direct question.

Later, Lewis addressed the tension.

“Sorry, we sometimes have to be a bit forceful. But when you stand [for] president you get pressed on questions, and you understand that,” he said. Lewis then moved to an inquiry about whether Paul’s message of criminal justice reform could resonate with white Republicans — which he noted would be his last question.

“I think your premise is incorrect,” he said. “Actually, I think that I can take that message into a white evangelical church anywhere in Iowa and give exactly the same speech and be received well.”

At that point, Lewis began to follow up again with a question about poll data. Paul appeared to talk to an aide, smiled and walked off screen as Lewis continued his question.

The lights in the room then turned off — though Paul’s staff later tweeted that they were turned off by a CNN team, which was confirmed by CNN’s Dana Bash on Twitter.

Paul has been accused in the past of being too combative with reporters. Earlier this year, he told a female CNBC reporter to “calm down” during an interview and this week got testy with “Today Show” host Savannah Guthrie.

But Paul has brushed off criticism that his ire is reserved for female journalists.

“I think I’ve been universally short-tempered and testy with both male and female reporters,” he said on Wednesday when asked about the Guthrie interview.