Protester, three Capitol Police officers treated for injuries after scuffle in Senate hearing room
WASHINGTON (AP) — A protester and three U.S. Capitol Police officers were treated for injuries in a Senate office building on Wednesday after the protester resisted arrest for disruptive behavior and grabbed onto a doorway as the officers and a Republican senator tried to drag him out of the room.
The protester, Brian C. McGinnis of North Carolina, was arrested and faces three counts of assaulting a police officer and three counts of resisting arrest and unlawful demonstration, the Capitol Police said in a statement.
“This afternoon, an unruly man who started to illegally protest during a hearing put everyone in a dangerous position by violently resisting and fighting our officer’s attempts to remove him from the room,” Capitol Police said in a statement.
Multiple videos show that McGinnis stood up and started shouting during the Senate Armed Services hearing and that police officers immediately grabbed him and tried to remove him from the room. McGinnis was protesting the U.S. military campaign in Iran, shouting, “America does not want to send its sons and daughters to war for Israel!”
The officers pulled McGinnis toward the exit as he violently resisted them and grabbed onto a doorway while they were trying to pull him out. Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy, a Republican member of the Armed Services panel who is a former Navy SEAL, ran over to assist and pull the protester’s arm off the door as other protesters yelled that McGinnis’ hand was stuck.
Capitol Police said in the statement that McGinnis “got his own arm stuck in a door to resist our officers and force his way back into the hearing room,” and said he was treated for his injuries.
Sheehy said in a statement on social media that he was trying to de-escalate the situation.
“This gentleman came to the Capitol looking for a confrontation, and he got one,” Sheehy said, “I hope he gets the help he needs without causing further violence.”
A video posted on an X account under the name Brian McGinnis appears to show the same man standing outside the Capitol on Wednesday morning before the hearing. The account’s description says he is a “Green Party Candidate for US Senate.”
He says in the video that he was “here in D.C. trying to speak out against the Senate” to ask them about sending the country into war.
“Anyone who feels disillusioned and betrayed by our government, you are not alone,” he says in the video.