Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid’s insistence that his severe facial injuries, including blindness in one eye, were caused by a broken band on an exercise machine doesn’t add up, declared talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday

“It’s clear from the pictures that an exercise machine in a bathroom did not do what happened to Harry Reid. Is it not?” Limbaugh said, noting a a possible alternative explanation has emerged.

“Bottom line is, I might now know who did it. And I wasn’t even gonna bring this up,” he said.

Limbaugh was commenting on the massive bruising to Reid’s neck and face and the injury to his eye the senator said happened on New Year’s Day, resulting in hospitalization.

An allegation that the injuries were produced by Reid’s brother, Harry, already has been reported. A man who was at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting on New Year’s Eve said he saw a man he appearing to be Larry Reid come in, according to John Hindraker, a contributor to the Powerline blog,

The man who came into the meeting was bloodied and dirtied as if he had been in a fight, and it was just a few hours later, on New Year’s Day, when Harry Reid was hospitalized.

Hear Limbaugh’s commentary:

Hinderaker said a man who called himself Easton Elliott told him he attended an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting on New Year’s Eve in Henderson, Nevada, when a man named Larry entered.

Get Rush Limbaugh’s “An Army of One” about the talk radio host who’s been called “Public Enemy No. 1″ of the Obama administration.

“His appearance was striking: there was blood on his clothing, beginning around his midsection. His left hand was swollen. He appeared to be somewhat intoxicated and was visibly agitated,” Elliot reportedly said.

Larry said he had a fight with a family member, didn’t remember much because he had blacked out and was now worried the Secret Service would come after him, according to Elliott.

Elliott said he later saw Reid’s photograph in the newspaper and recognized him as the “Larry” who came to the meeting.

Limbaugh took up the issue because Harry Reid had accused him of spreading the rumor that he had been attacked by “the mob.”

In an interview with CNBC, John Harwood posed to Reid: “The last few days a bunch of people are saying, ‘Reid, he didn’t have an exercise accident. He got beat up by the mob.’”

Reid responded: “It shows the credibility of Rush Limbaugh. He’s the guy that got all this started. Why in the world would I come up with a story that I got hurt in my own bathroom with my wife standing there? How could anyone say anything like that? I think a lot of people, as I read, they kind of don’t like me as a person, and I think that’s unfortunate.”

Limbaugh commented on Reid’s response.

“OK, so I’m the guy responsible for the story that Dingy Harry got beat up by the mob in his bathroom. Now, I did offer that I don’t think the nature of his injuries was such that this wasn’t a run-in with an exercise machine or the elastic band, whatever the story was. I did raise the specter that it did appear to me that Dingy Harry got beat up. I don’t know by who, although I might now. Bottom line is, I might now know who did it. And I wasn’t even gonna bring this up.”

Limbaugh then confirmed that he was listening in on the phone call between Elliott and Hinderaker.

He related the claims Elliott made regarding Larry Reid, including that the “Larry” at AA reported he had been “fighting with a family member” and was worried “the Secret Service would come after him.”

WND left a message with Capitol Police seeking information on the Reid case and did not get a response. An inquiry to the Washington FBI was directed to the Las Vegas FBI branch, which does not take phone calls, so the question was submitted by email.

A spokeswoman said she was not aware “at this time” that there was any FBI investigation into the injuries suffered by Harry Reid.

“So these guys at the AA meeting who think a kook came in, weeks later see his picture in the paper after being arrested for DUI, and, lo and behold, it’s Harry Reid’s brother. So now they’re starting to think they know what happened to Harry Reid: Family fight and his brother beat him up. Larry Reid is 73, a short, pugnacious guy, and is a well-known brawler, by the way, subsequent research has indicated,” Limbaugh said.

“Hinderaker can’t vouch for it. Neither can I. But if what he says about the AA meeting is accurate, then the inferences seem reasonable,” Limbaugh said. “Bottom line, somebody attacked Harry Reid on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. That much seems clear from pictures and from the nature of his injuries. Nobody’s investigated this. I don’t know who else Easton Elliott called. He claimed he wanted to talk to us because he had previously encountered both of us, Hinderaker and me, speculating that Dingy Harry had had something more happen to him [than] just an encounter with a rowing machine.

“Dingy Harry’s now blaming me for starting a rumor that he was beaten up by the mob. I didn’t say mob, but it’s clear from the pictures that an exercise machine in a bathroom did not do what happened to Harry Reid.”

Records show that the incident for which Larry Reid’s image was published involved charges against him for driving across a median, resisting arrest, not wearing a seat belt and possession of a gun while under the influence of alcohol.

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