Montana Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy has defended himself after an anti-war protester he was helping remove from a Capitol Hill hearing was injured.
The incident unfolded when Sheehy came to the aid of Capitol Police as they struggled to remove the activist from a committee hearing Wednesday.
Brian McGinnis, a Marine Corps veteran wearing dress uniform, disrupted a gathering of the Senate Armed Services Committee to denounce the joint U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran. He clashed with three officers attempting to remove him from the chamber and suffered a broken arm in the process, Reuters reports.
“No one wants to fight for Israel,” McGinnis yelled, as the officers shoved him through the door, at which point the protester’s arm became wedged in the door frame.
When Sheehy joined the scrum, an audible snap could be heard and a member of the public, in attendance to witness the hearing, repeatedly cried out: “A sitting U.S. senator just broke the hand of a Marine.”
As Sheehy returned to his seat, the same man called him a “coward” and a “punk,” to which the Republican appeared to respond by saying: “Go f*** yourself.”
As he was finally led away from the scene, McGinnis continued to shout: “Free Palestine, from the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, Palestine will be free”, referring to the first line of the Marine Corps’ official song.
The senator, a former Navy SEAL, later responded to a video of the chaotic episode on X (Twitter) and said: “Capitol Police were attempting to remove an unhinged protester 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.”
McGinnis – who, along with the officers, was treated for his injuries – was arrested and faces three counts each of assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, and unlawful demonstration, according to Capitol Police.
They blamed McGinnis for the injury he sustained, saying in their statement that he “got his own arm stuck in a door to resist our officers and force his way back into the hearing room.”
Sheehy’s decision to involve himself in the scuffle also attracted strong criticism, however, with the campaign group Veterans for Responsible Leadership reacting to the senator’s account by saying: “Let’s hope he sues the s*** out of you.”
Paul Rieckhoff, a veterans’ rights activist and podcaster, said: “This is very, very ugly. And no U.S. senator needs to inject himself into this situation. For the safety of everyone – including himself.
“Just unnecessary and terrible to watch. This is what an America falling apart looks like.”
A video posted on an X earlier in the day appears to show McGinnis, described as a “Green Party candidate for the U.S. Senate” standing outside the Capitol.
He explained that he is “here in D.C. trying to speak out against the Senate and ask them why they’re going to send our men and women to harm’s way when our elected officials said that there would be no world war.”
“Anyone who feels disillusioned and betrayed by our government, you are not alone,” he says. “Join us in demanding accountability for this betrayal. Free Palestine. Free America.”
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