Woman Arrested After Allegedly Throwing Wine at Matt Gaetz, Flipping Him Off

Nikki McCann Ramirez
·2 min read
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matt-gaetz-wine-attack.jpg Conservatives Attend The Annual CPAC Event - Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
matt-gaetz-wine-attack.jpg Conservatives Attend The Annual CPAC Event - Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) announced on Tuesday that he would be pursuing assault charges against a woman who threw a glass of wine at him during a wine festival.

According to witnesses at the festival, 41-year-old Selena Chambers swore loudly at the Florida congressman before throwing her glass of wine at him. One witness, who said he was standing next to Gaetz at the time of the boozy bombardment, said he and Gaetz were “soaked.” The woman allegedly walked away, yelling and flipping him off as she went.

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Police arrested Chambers and charged her with two counts of battery, including battery on an elected official, a felony charge.

Chambers claims that she did not purposefully throw the drink at the congressman, telling police that she “was walking and tripped and spilled her drink on Representative Gaetz.”

On his podcast, Gaetz described the incident as an attack by a “leftist wino.”

“As I was chatting with one gentleman, a lady threw a drink on the both of us,” Gaetz said in a video statement.

“I want folks to know why we press charges in circumstances like this,” he added. “Folks can shout and scream all they want, this is America … but if we start allowing stuff to be thrown or hurled, if we allow people to be harmed, there is a severe risk of escalation and accident,” he added.

“I will never allow the safety of Northwest Floridians to be compromised. I will be pressing charges against this individual in order to uphold the civility our community deserves,” he wrote in a statement.

This is not the first time Gaetz has been involved in a tannin-soaked tussle. In 2019 another Florida woman was sentenced to 15 days in prison after throwing a “red drink” at the congressman.

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