Florida woman charged after allegedly throwing drink at far-right Matt Gaetz

A Florida woman faces two charges of battery – one a felony – after allegedly throwing a drink at the far-right Republican congressman Matt Gaetz.

The Walton county sheriff reportedly said Gaetz insisted on pressing charges. Gaetz maintained he was justified in doing so, saying 41-year-old Selena Jo Chambers “cross[ed] the Rubicon beyond just words to throwing stuff”.

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A previous case of a drink being thrown at Gaetz resulted in a woman being sent to prison.

In 2019, Amanda Kondrat’yev, then 35 and a former political opponent of Gaetz, received a 15-day prison sentence for throwing a slushie at her rival.

That beverage-blitzing brouhaha happened at an “Open Gaetz” public event at a restaurant in Pensacola appropriately named the Brew Ha Ha.

The alleged case involving Chambers happened at the South Walton Beaches food and wine festival on Saturday night.

According to the Pensacola News Journal, Chambers “told police she was walking and tripped and spilled her drink on Gaetz, though she recognised Gaetz before spilling her drink on him”.

The sheriff said Chambers cursed Gaetz before throwing her drink, which hit the congressman and another person. A woman with Chambers said she was the one who cursed.

Gaetz is a prominent ally of Donald Trump. He recently played a leading role in a rightwing rebellion that forced the California Republican Kevin McCarthy through 15 votes before he was confirmed as US House speaker.

On his podcast on Tuesday, Gaetz said that he had been “enjoying catching up with new friends and old, and folks recognised me, and we were taking pictures and having polite conversations. As I was chatting with one gentleman, a lady threw a drink on the both of us.”

Defending the decision to press charges, he said: “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.

“And we don’t want to see anyone in harm’s way, whether it’s family members, supporters or even our detractors. We want them to be safe too.

“But when they really cross the Rubicon beyond just words to throwing stuff and striking me and striking a gentleman I was speaking with, with a drink, then that has really caused harm to our community. And it’s something that we want to contain and extinguish and not see going forward.”

In 2019, at his assailant’s trial, Gaetz said: “I come not for any vengeance or retribution, but for the safety of the constituents who attend our public events.”

In addition to her 15-day prison sentence, Kondrat’yev – a mother of two – got a year of supervised probation and was fined $500.

A press release from Gatez about Chambers’ alleged attack said: “I will never allow the safety of north-west Floridians to be comprised.”

He also called Chambers “a registered Democrat and self-described member of the ‘resistance’” to Trump and his far-right supporters.

Chambers was booked with one count each of misdemeanor battery and battery on an elected official. The latter is a felony.