A Republican senator who acted to physically remove a protester is being celebrated by conservatives and condemned by others who accuse the lawmaker of assault. The incident, which appeared to leave a Marine veteran with an injured and possibly broken arm, has been widely shared on social media.
Senator, police try to physically remove protester who appears to be injured in the confrontation
In a video posted online, several members of the Capitol police are seen attempting to physically remove a protester from a Senate Armed Services subcommittee hearing. The man dressed in uniform, later identified as Marine veteran Brian McGinnis, can be heard yelling “no one wants to fight for Israel” as three officers try to pull him out of the chamber. As McGinnis holds onto the chamber door, with his hand becoming lodged in the space between the door and the wall, Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy of Montana joins the officers in grabbing and pulling McGinnis. Members of the audience can be heard yelling about McGinnis’ hand before his wrist appears to suddenly jerk and make an audible cracking sound, leading to gasps from the crowd. Sheehy can be seen pulling McGinnis by the legs just before this moment and grabbing him by the arm just after, though it is not clear in the video if the Republican senator is touching McGinnis at the moment of the apparent injury. As McGinnis is detained, Sheehy walks away to jeers from the crowd, including one audience member declaring “a U.S. Senator just broke the hand of a Marine!”
McGinnis, who is also a Green Party candidate in North Carolina’s senate race, later said that his arm was broken in the incident. CBS News reported that McGinnis’ campaign manager, Green Party official Mark Elbourno, said McGinnis was arrested and taken to George Washington University Hospital. Capitol Police told CBS that McGinnis was charged with three counts of assaulting a police officer and three counts of resisting arrest, as well as an additional charge of “crowding, obstructing and incommoding,” for allegedly blocking the chamber entrance. The video, which begins with police already attempting to remove McGinnis, does not show him acting violently toward the officers. “He wasn’t assaulting anybody,” Elbourno said of the charges, according to CBS News. “He just wanted to be heard [and was] speaking loud and clear.” Elbourno instead said that McGinnis was the victim in the incident. “He was assaulted, actually. They broke his arm.”
Sheehy, McGinnis, others react to incident
Sheehy defended his actions on social media. “Capitol Police were attempting to remove an unhinged protester from the Armed Services hearing,” the senator posted concerning the incident. “He was fighting back. I decided to help out and deescalate the situation.” Sheehy wrote of McGinnis, “This gentleman came to the Capitol looking for a confrontation, and he got one,” adding, “I hope he gets the help he needs without causing further violence.” A context note added by readers on X disputes Sheehy’s description.
Reactions to the incident were divided, largely along ideological lines. The Senate Republicans social media account commented defiantly, quoting Sheehy’s post and adding, “Don’t disrupt congressional proceedings. Especially don’t resist law enforcement. And most especially when Tim Sheehy is around.”
Another poster, who describes themselves as “AntiWar” in their profile, posted, “A US senator has no right to put their hands on someone. At all. They don’t get to ‘help’ the cops. This is a straight up assault by Senator Sheehy on an American Marine veteran who was exercising his right of free speech and got his arm broken protesting Israel’s war.”
McGinnis posted about the incident, saying, “And for the record, I’ve been running long before this, and yes, even after breaking my arm standing up for what I believe in.” He added that the incident has “only made me more determined. Anger is real, and so is resolve. Take care.”
With the controversial war against Iran continuing as the U.S. approaches a contentious midterm election, tension remains high in Washington, D.C., and around the country. In that context, the particularly gruesome moment caught on video is serving as a sort of Rorschach test on social media, with conservatives portraying McGinnis as an out-of-control demonstrator and progressives condemning Sheehy and Capitol Hill police as aggressors who injured a military veteran for protesting against an unpopular war.