Nashville International Airport on Thursday released footage of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) at a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint earlier this week that appears to counter a police report that claimed he was "irate" after running into complications during a security screening.
According to the Tennessean, a police report from the incident on Monday described officers responding to the situation encountering "a passenger being irate."
In the video above, via the Tennessean, Paul can be seen seated in the bottom left corner, talking on a cell phone while other airport personnel move around the glass cubicle. For a portion of the video -- which captures no audio -- Paul is behind a large column obstructing the view of the camera.
While attempting to return to Washington D.C. through Nashville on Monday, Paul set off an alarm on a scanner while passing through security. He proceeded to refuse a pat-down, instead asking to be run through the machine again. TSA officials refused to grant him his request, which led to what Paul characterized as being "detained."
A TSA spokesperson later denied that the senator had, in fact, been "detained."
"Passengers, as in this case, who refuse to comply with security procedures are denied access to the secure gate area. He was escorted out of the screening area by local law enforcement," the TSA said in a statement.
The debacle drew strong criticism from Rand Paul's father, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), who took time out from his presidential campaign to release a statement blasting the TSA.
"The police state in this country is growing out of control," the statement said. "One of the ultimate embodiments of this is the TSA that gropes and grabs our children, our seniors, and our loved ones and neighbors with disabilities. The TSA does all of this while doing nothing to keep us safe."
The elder Paul later launched a money-bomb based on the incident, seeking to fundraise off his oft-stated goal to "end the TSA."