MIAMI — The man accused of a politically motivated attack on a Republican Party canvasser in Hialeah last month actually encouraged the canvasser to keep handing out fliers just moments before the fight started, according to cellphone videos obtained by the Miami Herald — raising more questions about whether the canvasser was attacked for being a Republican, as both he and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., have repeatedly stated.
“It’s OK, bro, we’re telling you, do your job,” Jonathan Casanova, 27, can be heard saying to canvasser Christopher Monzon, 27, who was handing out Rubio fliers in an east Hialeah neighborhood on Oct. 23.
The videos — which are not contiguous and do not capture the actual beating — show an escalating argument between Monzon and his two alleged assailants, Casanova and Javier Jesus Lopez, 25, outside Lopez’s home. Lopez can be heard in the footage telling Monzon to “keep walking” while also threatening to “rush” the canvasser. At one point, Lopez threatens to shoot Monzon.
