Marco Rubio says second arrest for beating of canvasser with bigoted history supports claims of political motive

A Republican canvasser is attacked.

In the wake of a second arrest connected to the brutal attack of a campaign worker, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio is decrying local media as “biased” and “irresponsible” for their reporting on the matter.

Rubio on Wednesday posted images to Twitter of an arrest report of 26-year-old Jonathan Alexander Casanova, who Hialeah police say joined another man, 25-year-old Javier Lopez, in the beating of canvasser (and well-documented racist) Christopher Monzon.

“Local media spent 2 days treating the GOP canvasser who was attacked as a criminal & denying the attack was politically motivated,” Rubio wrote. “Now a second arrest, a police report & surveillance video show how biased & irresponsible the narrative they were pushing was.”

Indeed, the new arrest report details a merciless act of violence by at least two men and a pair of German Shepherds police say Casanova sicced on Monzon. It also cites sworn testimony Monzon gave claiming the attack followed warnings by Casanova that he could not pass through a public area because the victim “was Republican.”

The arrest report notes “surveillance from the area corroborated the victims (sic) sequence of events.” It did not say, however, that the surveillance footage included audio of any verbal exchange confirming the attacks were politically motivated.

Local media spent 2 days treating the GOP canvasser who was attacked as a criminal & denying the attack was politically motivated

Now a second arrest,a police report & surveillance video shows how biased & irresponsible the narrative they were pushing was pic.twitter.com/VdpyXQhrgV

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) October 26, 2022

While Miami-Dade County at large is historically Democratic-leaning, the city of Hialeah and its Cuban-majority population is overwhelmingly Republican. In the 2020 General Election, Hialeah voters sided with former President Donald Trump at a rate of 70% or greater across every precinct in the city. Further, neither alleged assailant appears to have been politically engaged prior to the incident.

Lopez’s mother told the Miami Herald her son “doesn’t know anything about politics” and “has never voted.”

A search of Casanova’s name and birth date on the Florida Department of State’s voter information lookup page yielded no results.

But both men have criminal records. Lopez previously faced charges of aggravated assault and burglary. He was on probation at the time of his arrest Monday and remains in custody.

Casanova, meanwhile, has been arrested multiple times, most recently for armed robbery in 2016. An arrest report from that time said Casanova was part of a Hialeah gang called 24th Avenue. He was released on a $7,500 bond, according to Miami-Dade Department of Corrections records.

Monzon boasts a far shorter criminal record and a comparatively lengthy history of bigotry and racially motivated activism.

He suffered numerous facial fractures as a result of the attack, the arrest report said. Rubio said he’ll need facial reconstructive surgery.

Last night one of our canvassers wearing my T-shirt and a Desantis hat was brutally attacked by 4 animals who told him Republicans weren’t allowed in their neighborhood in #Hialeah #Florida

He suffered internal bleeding, a broken jaw & will need facial reconstructive surgery pic.twitter.com/36QpbySg58

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) October 24, 2022

Monzon’s digital trail of racist, sexist and antisemitic posts, which sometimes saw him writing under the alias “Christopher Cedeno.” His public activism and openly discriminatory rhetoric, combined with his ethnic heritage, also earned him another nickname: “the Cuban Clayton Bigsby,” a reference to the paradoxical Dave Chappelle character.

He participated in the 2017 “United the Right” rally in Charlottesville, where joined nationalist protesters in chanting “Jews will not replace us.” One of the participants ultimately drove his car into a crowd of anti-racist protesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer.

Days after, Monzon was arrested in Hollywood for trying to use a Confederate flag to spear anti-racist demonstrators. He pleaded no contest and was placed on probation.

Monzon, who made a failed bid for the Hialeah City Council last year, participated in other demonstrations as a member of the White nationalist group League of the South. He claimed last year to be on a path of “de-radicalization,” part of which included leaving the group. He admitted to maintaining ties with some of its members.

However, when members of the media tried to interview him in the hospital after the attack this week, they were prevented from doing so by members of the far-right “Western chauvinist” Proud Boys group, including Gabriel Garcia, who faces federal charges stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

When Rubio first brought attention to the Sunday attack in a tweet less than a day after it took place, he wrote that “4 animals who told (Monzon) Republicans weren’t allowed” in their Hialeah neighborhood were responsible.

Shortly after, the Hialeah Police Department released an arrest report of Lopez on charges of aggravated battery. The arrest report said one other person was involved, but that that person attacked Lopez, not the victim.

By that time, the online group Miami Against Fascism said it had “high confidence” Monzon was the victim. Vince Mendel, president of the Miami Springs Republican Club, of which Monzon is vice president, confirmed to the Miami New Times that it was Monzon.

Mendel said Monzon was beaten by a group of men, including one heavy-set attacker who caused most of Monzon’s most serious injuries.

Neither Lopez, who is 6 feet and weighs 190 pounds, nor Casanova, who is 5-foot-4 and weighs 145 pounds, matches that description. If Mendel’s account is accurate, further arrests are pending.

Federal finance reports show the Florida Republican Party paid Monzon more than $10,000 between June and September.

This past year, several members of the Proud Boys were confirmed to have joined the Executive Committee of Miami-Dade Republican Party.

When asked in June for his thoughts on the matter, Rubio equivocated by comparing the group’s participation in the GOP with that of far-left ideologues in the Democratic Party.

“When you ask me about the communists and socialists that are part of the local Democratic Party, then we can talk about members of the Republican Party,” he said at the time.