Dramatic footage from inside the United States Capitol captures the moment a former Marine protesting the war in Iran was forcefully removed from a Senate hearing, wounding him and three police officers.Brian C. interrupted. McGinnis, 44, of North Carolina, spoke at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Wednesday, shouting: “America does not want to send its sons and daughters to war for Israel!” Videos circulating on social media show him standing in the middle of the hearing before officers from the US Capitol Police moved quickly to remove him.
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McGinnis, who was wearing a US Marine uniform, resisted as officers attempted to escort him out of the room.
Footage shows the man clinging to the doorway as police struggled to free him. At one point, Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL and committee member, intervened to help officers extract the protester’s arm from the door frame.A loud gunshot can be heard in the video before the situation calms down. Capitol Police later said McGinnis “pinned his arm in the door to resist our officers and forcefully return to the hearing room.”
He was treated for his injuries, as were three officers.“This afternoon, an unruly man began to unlawfully protest during a hearing, putting everyone in a dangerous situation by violently resisting and fighting our officers’ attempts to remove him from the room,” Capitol Police said in a statement.McGinnis was arrested and faces three counts of assaulting a police officer, three counts of resisting arrest, and one count of unlawful demonstration.Senator Sheehy later wrote on X that he tried to help “de-escalate the situation,” adding: “This man came to the Capitol looking for a confrontation, and he got one. I hope he gets the help he needs without causing more violence.”Earlier in the day, a video posted on an account in McGuinness’s name described him as the Green Party’s candidate for US Senate. In it, he said he had come to Washington to “speak out against the Senate” over what he called the push toward war, telling viewers: “Anyone who feels disappointed and betrayed by our government, you are not alone.”
