Former cocktail waitress at a strip club-turned Florida congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna accused an anti-war and human rights activist of assaulting her, but when video of the incident surfaced, an embarrassed Luna faced a furious social media backlash for her deceitful description of the incident, and police, by the way, refused to press charges after seeing the clip themselves.
It happened on Wednesday, June 3, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio testified at a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearing. The Republican questioned him about the feminist grassroots group Code Pink and alleged ties to the Communist Chinese Party, according to news reports.
The organization’s co-founder, Medea Benjamin, followed Luna out of the hearing to ask her questions about the impact of President Donald Trump’s unapproved and ongoing war on Iran. That’s when Luna falsely accused Benjamin of striking her and called on House Speaker Mike Johnson to ban the group.
“I have asked the Speaker to ban Code Pink. I was just physically hit by their head organizer. This is right after I questioned Secretary Rubio about them. It is time Speaker Johnson ban them,” Luna demanded.
Later Thursday night, she continued with the untrue narrative. She doubled down and posted again that “you don’t get to smack my arm.”
“You don’t get to touch me. You don’t get to hit my arm. You don’t get to come to my office and scream and yell. You can hate my politics all you want, but if you touch me, you cross the line,” she raged on X.
United States Ambassador to El Salvador Milena Mayorga race to Luna’s defense with her own message on X.
“Violence has no place in a democracy. What happened to the Chairwoman @RepLuna of the @SAL_Caucus after Secretary Rubio’s hearing at the U.S. Capitol is unacceptable and cowardly. Differences are settled with truth and open debate, not with attacks or intimidation.”
But after all that complaining, TMZ dropped a video that clearly showed Luna had falsely claimed she was intentionally struck by Benjamin.
The video shows Benjamin walking next to Luna, asking her questions. The activist’s hand briefly touches the sleeve of Luna’s jacket as she’s talking and gesturing, a far cry from assaulting the congresswoman.
An X user pointed out, “She was a stripper. She used to charge extra for far worse.”
But that’s not exactly true. Luna briefly worked as a cocktail waitress at a gentleman’s club while attending college, but did not perform as an exotic dancer, according to Florida Politics. She has denied claims that she was a stripper.
Benjamin responded to Luna with her own post showing an interaction with another Florida GOP congresswoman, Maria Salazar, shortly after the incident with Luna Wednesday.
“Funny how @RepLun called the police to arrest me (they didn’t once they saw the video) because she said I touched her arm. 10 minutes later, @RepMariaSalazar grabbed my face. I’m not complaining because she didn’t do it maliciously, I’m just pointing out the lunacy of @RepLuna,” Benjamin wrote.
It didn’t take long for social media to respond, pointing out Luna’s duplicity, including one poster who showed Luna touching a staffer as she yelled at former Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris at an airport in 2019.
The video clearly shows Luna putting her hand on an aide’s shoulder as the aide tried to prevent a screaming Luna from getting closer to Harris.
This X user, after seeing the TMZ video of the incident, joked, “Damn! She almost died.”
Another lashed out at TMZ, defending Luna by citing the federal statute against unwanted physical contact against a sitting member of Congress.
“Funny how those involved with TMZ want to cite laws and statutes on some things and then pretend they don’t matter on others.”
X User Paul agreed. “That is technically assault. You have no right to make unwanted contact with another human being no matter how slight.”
But poster Kunoichik sees it differently. “A little old lady who barely grazed her and politely apologized immediately anyways. Man, where has honesty, integrity, and grace gone in this world?”
Other angry users had no patience for Luna’s deceit. “Evil, lying, sadistic b-tch doesn’t even begin to describe what Luna is doing here.”
Even MAGA voters were disgusted.
“Absolutely pathetic to call that assault,” X poster Mystique proclaimed. “Lost a lot of respect for Anna for making these ridiculous claims . We are not Democrats .. we don’t have to make up crimes . You should apologize immediately.”
Another MAGA supporter chimed in, “OMG sorry, she barely touched you. People talk like that. Leave it along, it’s not like she slugged you. I am a Trump supporter, and this is ridiculous.”
Rubio, meantime, attended four congressional hearings this week testifying for the first time since Trump started his unending and deadly war on Iran on Feb. 28.
His testimony comes amid his and Trump’s struggle to find a diplomatic end to the war without losing face.
