An aide to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) called Jon Stewart a “disheveled charlatan” amid a feud between the lawmaker and the comedian on a recently passed bill to renew the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.
Paul’s deputy chief of staff Sergio Gor hurled the insult at Stewart, pushing back on the former “Daily Show” host’s assertion that he sought to meet with the senator’s office about the bill.
“Jon Stewart never reached out to me or our office. He is a liar and a demagogue who has revealed himself as nothing more than a disheveled charlatan,” Gor said in a Wednesday statement to The Hill.{mosads}
According to Paul’s office, Stewart met with the lawmaker’s staff several years ago. The office also recently met with the FealGood Foundation, a 9/11 responders organization with which Stewart has been associated.
John Feal, the organization’s founder and president, confirmed that his group met with Paul’s staff.
“All of that now doesn’t matter because we just got a bill passed 97-2,” he said.
Feal later told The Hill that he reached out to Stewart for a comment on the aide’s remarks. Stewart, in response, said: “OK, Randy.”
Gor’s comments follow Stewart’s recent assertion that “we’ve tried to get into that office many, many times to have those conversations with those staffers, and haven’t been able to.”
Stewart also called Paul a “scalawag and a ragamuffin” after Paul called him a “guttersnipe.”
The Senate voted Tuesday to extend funding for the compensation fund through fiscal 2090. Paul and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) were the only senators to vote against it.
It had previously passed in the House. Stewart has advocated for the bill’s passage and was present for the vote.
— Updated 1:29 p.m.