A sentimental gesture made by one presidential candidate to another backfired this weekend following a contentious and drama-filled Libertarian Party convention.
(FOX)- Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, who scored the party’s nomination, was gifted a replica Sunday of George Washington’s flintlock pistol by runner-up Austin Petersen.
Tearing up at the close of the Florida convention, Petersen presented Johnson with the pistol as a symbol of party unity.
“You have my sword, and you have my gun,” he said, as the nominee accepted the gift.
But then, Johnson unceremoniously chucked it in the garbage can.
The slight apparently was witnessed by several delegates, whose accounts soon popped up on social media and blogs.
Both Johnson and Petersen later acknowledged this happened. Petersen voiced surprise at Johnson’s actions.
“It’s a very prized possession of mine,” Petersen told FoxNews.com, when reached for comment on Wednesday.
Johnson, though, apparently had his reasons.
“Governor Johnson was frustrated. That’s why he tossed the gun,” Joe Hunter, communications director for the Johnson campaign, told FoxNews.com Wednesday. “He wishes he hadn’t. He’s sorry he did it and that it has become an issue.”
Hunter explained that Petersen, after giving Johnson the pistol, almost immediately started slamming Johnson’s vice presidential pick, former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld.
“That was very frustrating to Governor Johnson,” Hunter said. “And what he did with the gun was pure frustration.”