While trying to travel to a speaking engagement at the March for Life, Sen. Rand Paul became the target of interest to the TSA, who detained him after he refused a hands-on patdown, only to later claim they didn’t detain him:

Paul’s father, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), tweeted out news of the incident, saying that there had been an “anomaly” with a body scanner.

“My son @SenRandPaul being detained by TSA for refusing full body pat-down after anomaly in body scanner in Nashville. More details coming,” wrote the authenticated Twitter account of presidential candidate Ron Paul.

The TSA disputed this characterization of the incident.

The Kentucky senator triggered an alarm during routine airport screening and declined to finish the process, said a TSA official, but was “not detained at any point.” A targeted pat-down is usually used to address the alarm.

“Passengers, as in this case, who refuse to comply with security procedures are denied access to the secure gate area. He was escorted out of the screening area by local law enforcement,” the official said.

Shortly before noon, the TSA said Paul had been re-booked on another flight and went through the screening process again without incident.

Paul missed his opportunity to speak at the March for Life.