The cab company employed by Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren claims that the Republican party employee who shot this video struck Warren's driver first.

The driver, who has been identified by the Washington Free Beacon as Morgan Reitzas, is also the president of Martha's Vineyard Taxi. THE WEEKLY STANDARD received an unsigned email as sent from support@mvtaxi.com, an address listed on the company's website. The email reads:

The videos shows the driver holding his hand in front of the iphone camera to block the taxi for personal reasons as well as the fact there was a minor in the vehicle that thank fully was not videotaped.. If you watch the video you see Scott Browns Aid or Tracker whom ever he is grab the drivers arm and assault him and that is why he swatted at him to knock his iphone out of his hand..

Reached by phone, the dispatcher for MV Taxi confirmed that the email address is the company's but did not identify the sender of the email. The dispatcher said that Reitzas was "unavailable" to speak.

As for the charge in the email, that the Republican staffer touched the driver first, the video evidence is ambiguous. The driver places his hand up to the camera's lens, and it appears he may have hit the camera as well. The Republican cameraman does swat away the arm of the driver, after which the driver knocks the camera to the ground. Asked for comment, Massachusetts Republican party spokesman Tim Buckley said, "the video speaks for itself."

Watch the video below, starting at around 18 seconds in, to see the initial altercation: