Tim Kaine’s Son Lobbed Smoke Bomb At Trump Rally: Police

SAINT PAUL, MN — Linwood Michael “Woody” Kaine, the 24-year-old son of 2016 Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine, was arrested last weekend in Saint Paul after he and four other masked protesters allegedly lobbed a smoke bomb made of fireworks inside the Minnesota Capitol rotunda during a rally for President Donald Trump. A 61-year-old woman was struck with the homemade bomb during the incident, which occurred a week ago on May 20, police said.

Woody Kaine, the youngest son of Virginia U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine and his wife, Ann Holton, lives in Minneapolis, and had attended Carleton College in Northfield. Woody Kaine and the four others were detained after the incident, but formal riot charges haven’t been filed, the Saint Paul Pioneer Press reported. (For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Saint Paul Patch, or click here to find your local Minnesota Patch. Also, if you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Saint Paul police on Wednesday released more details of the dramatic arrest of Woody Kaine. The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office has said “there were insufficient facts to prove felony-level riot,” the Pioneer Press reported. However, the Minnesota State Patrol said the investigation remains active, and the protesters could face misdemeanor charges in Saint Paul municipal court.

Police spokesman Steve Linders said Kaine and the others ran, but one officer was able to wrest Kaine to the ground, “but he got up, squared off with the officer and the officer tried to take him to the ground again.”

Another officer arrived at the scene and sprayed what Linders described as a chemical irritant toward Kaine.

“He then was taken to the ground, but continued to resist, at which point another officer deployed a knee strike to get him to cooperate with the officers and put his hands behind his back,” Linders said. “After the strike, Mr. Kaine cooperated and was taken into custody without further incident.”

Saint Paul Republican Party chairman John Krenik said he thinks “politics had something to do with” the lack of charges in heavily Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Saint Paul.

“I have contacted the U.S. Department of Justice for a full investigation and review of Saint Paul City Attorney Samuel Clark and Ramsey County Attorney John Choi’s actions in not prosecuting these terrorists’ criminal acts,” Krenik said in a statement. “I am asking both John Choi and Samuel Clark to recuse themselves and appoint outside review of these terrorists’ actions, as their objectiveness has clearly been clouded by their political affiliation and Democrat Party loyalty.”

Both Linders and Clark told the Pioneer Press they were unaware that Woody Kaine is Tim Kaine’s son.

Tim Kaine issued a statement about the incident: “We love that our three children have their own views and concerns about current political issues. They fully understand the responsibility to express those concerns peacefully.”

Photo via Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office