Sen. Marco Rubio and right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones traded barbs outside a Capitol Hill social media hearing on Wednesday after Jones crashed the Florida lawmaker's press conference and called Rubio a "little frat boy" and Rubio told Jones, "Don't touch me again, man."
Jones disrupted Rubio's press conference with reporters on a Senate hearing in which technology executives from Twitter and Facebook were testifying about foreign influence on their platforms.
Rubio called Jones a "dumbass" and tried to laugh off his interruption. However, the confrontation escalated after Rubio told Jones not to touch him after Jones placed his hand on Rubio's shoulder while the senator was speaking to reporters.
"Hey, don't touch me again, man. I’m asking you not to touch me again," Rubio said.
"Well, sure, I just patted you nicely," Jones responded.
"I don't know who you are. You're not gonna get arrested man, you're not gonna get arrested, I’ll take care of it myself," Rubio said, after Jones asked if the lawmaker was going to have him arrested.
"Oh, you'll beat me up. Look at him he's so mad," Jones replied. "You're not going to silence me. You're not gonna silence America. You are a little gangster thug. Rubio just threatened to physically take care of me."
Jones is the founder and host of Infowars, a far-right conspiracy theorist website. Recently, Facebook, Google and Apple have each taken steps to remove Jones from their platforms and he also was given a "time out" on Twitter.
Jones has railed against the bans, claiming tech companies are censoring him. "As the president says, it is a witch hunt, but it's beyond a witch hunt," Jones said earlier Wednesday.
After the confrontation with Rubio, Jones continued to taunt the senator as he walked back to the committee hearing.
"Look at this little frat boy, he's so cool. Go back to your bathhouse. There goes Rubio, little punk," Jones said.
