GOP Senator and AIPAC Darling Tim Sheehy Accused of Breaking Anti-War Veteran's Arm

US Sen. Tim Sheehy came under fire Thursday after the former Navy SEAL was involved in an incident in which a Marine Corps veteran and Green Party Senate candidate's arm was fractured after he disrupted a hearing to protest the illegal US-Israeli war on Iran.

In a video posted on social media by CBS News reporter Alan He, Sheehy (R-Mt.) is seen helping Capitol Police officers as they forcefully remove Brian McGinnis—who is wearing Marine dress blues and shouts, “No one wants to fight for Israel!"—from a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on US military readiness.

In an apparent attempt to make it more difficult to remove him, McGinnis inserts his left hand into a door frame and wraps his arm around the door. Sheehy joins officers who are trying to pry McGinnis from the door, and the audible sharp snap of breaking bone is heard as the senator hooks in under his victim's shoulder and pulls hard.

People are heard saying, "His hand! His hand!" and, "A US senator just broke the hand of a Marine!" as Sheehy and the officers struggle to remove McGinnis.

Prior to his removal from the Senate chamber, McGinnis had stood up and shouted during the hearing, "America does not want to send its sons and daughters to war for Israel!"

The peace group CodePink posted video of the incident recorded from different angles, including footage of McGinnis being removed from the building.

"Americans citizens don't want to send their sons and daughters to fight in Iran," he says.

On Thursday, McGinnis said on social media that the incident has "only made me more determined."

"Anger is real," added. "So is resolve."

Sheehy—who previously admitted to lying about a self-inflicted gunshot wound which he falsely claimed he suffered during his deployment to Afghanistan—said on X following the incident that "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," the senator added. "I hope he gets the help he needs without causing further violence."

X users added a community note to Sheehy's post, stating: "The [senator] describes this as 'deescalation,' but full vid/reporting show he joined officers by physically grabbing the marine's leg then his arm breaks. Reports say the protester was treated for an injury after. The marine did not come to start a confrontation, he protested."

The Capitol Police said McGinnis "got his own arm stuck in a door" and claimed three officers were injured during the incident. The department said McGinnis would be charged with three counts of assault, resisting arrest, an unlawful protest.

Critics, meanwhile, called for Sheehy's arrest and even his resignation from Congress.

"How has Tim Sheehy not yet been arrested for assault and hauled away as the deranged violent thug that we all saw brutalizing a marine veteran in the senate today?" asked New Yorker staff writer Philip Gourevitch on Bluesky.

Numerous observers noted that Sheehy has taken more than $600,000 in campaign contributions from the pro-Israel lobby, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Sheehy also visited Israel at the height of the US-backed Gaza genocide—which has left more than 250,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing—during which he recorded a video for AIPAC as "his first act as an elected senator" to promise he would do "everything" for the Israeli military.

US and Israeli forces are now bombing Iran, where more than 1,000 people have been killed and over 5,000 others wounded, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society. Bombings include so-called "double-tap" strikes meant to kill survivors and first responders. Paramedics and victims' relatives say Saturday's massacre of around 175 children and others at an elementary school in Minab was a double-tap strike.

McGinnis is an Iraq War veteran running for Senate as a Green "because I know capitalist parties will never actually serve working-class people."

In a video posted on social media prior to Wednesday's incident, McGinnis said he was "here in DC trying to speak out" against lawmakers' support for President Donald Trump and fugitive Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war of choice against Iran.

"Anyone who feels disillusioned and betrayed by our government, you are not alone," McGinnis said, alluding to Trump's promise of no new wars. Trump has ordered the bombing of 10 countries—the most of any US president ever—and announced Wednesday that he is deploying troops to Ecuador to help fight drug traffickers.

"Free Palestine," McGinnis says in his video. "Free America."