Senator Tim Sheehy (R-MT) joined the Capitol Police in tossing an ex-Marine protester from an Armed Services Subcommittee hearing in a wild scene that unfolded in the US Senate on Wednesday, May 4. Amid the altercation, the protester, Brian McGinnis, hurt his arm, with people in the room accusing Sheehy of breaking it.
In a statement on X, Sheehy said that McGinnis was “looking for a confrontation.”
He wrote, reposting a video of the incident, “Capitol Police were attempting to remove an unhinged protestor from the Armed Services hearing. He was fighting back. I decided to help out and deescalate the situation. This gentleman came to the Capitol looking for a confrontation, and he got one. I hope he gets the help he needs without causing further violence.”
Did Tim Sheehy ‘break’ Brian McGinnis’ arm?
McGinnis was dressed in what appeared to be The Marine Corps Dress Uniform. A video of the confrontation shows McGinnis shouting “no one wants to fight for Israel” while being escorted out.
He held on to the hearing room door with his left hand, which appeared to get stuck between the door and the frame, as onlookers yelled, “His hand, his hand! Oh! His hand! Oh, my God. Oh, sh**.”
“Sir. Sir. Sir. Let go of your hand. Let go the door. Let go. Let go,” the officers can be heard calmly telling McGinnis.
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Sheehy appeared to dislodge it. People in the room were then heard accusing him of “breaking” McGinnis’ hand. “The senator broke his hand, a sitting U.S. Senator just broke the hand of a Marine!” some in the room yelled.
Someone later asked McGinnis if his hand was okay. “No, it’s not,” he responded.
Officers later escorted McGinnis out of the room as Sheehy sat back. Once outside, McGinnis was heard saying his left arm was broken.
McGinnis describes himself as a Marine veteran running as a Green Party candidate in North Carolina’s Senate race, according to CBS News. Mark Elbourno, a Green Party official who manages McGinnis’ Senate campaign, claimed that McGinnis urged the Senate to stop funding the war with Iran because he “couldn’t take their lies anymore.”
He also asserted that McGinnis did not assault the officers, saying, “He wasn’t assaulting anybody. … He just wanted to be heard [and was] speaking loud and clear. He was assaulted, actually. They broke his arm.”
What did the Capitol Police say?
The Capitol Police said in a statement that McGinnis “got his own arm stuck in a door to resist our officers and force his way back into the hearing room.” It also claimed that local emergency medical services treated three police officers for injuries after the incident.
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The Capitol Police alleged that McGinnis “put everyone in a dangerous position by violently resisting and fighting our officers’ attempts to remove him from the room.”
“Protests are not allowed inside the Congressional Buildings,” it said. “There are plenty of other spots on Capitol Grounds, outside, where demonstrations are allowed.”
McGinnis was placed under arrest and transported to George Washington University Hospital, according to Elbourno, who attended the hearing with McGinnis. Police said McGinnis is facing three counts of assaulting a police officer, three counts of resisting arrest and one count of crowding, obstructing and incommoding — which means he was allegedly blocking an entrance or passageway — for interrupting the committee hearing.