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GOP Congressman Clay Higgins Assaults Man Asking Questions During Press Event
"Had this guy fought back, he certainly would have been charged for assaulting a congressman," said one critic. "This is BS and Rep. Higgins should be charged."
May 18, 2023
U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins on Wednesday grabbed a man who was asking questions at a press conference and repeatedly told him, "You're out" as he pushed him away from the event, sparking some calls for assault charges against the Republican congressman.
Jake Burdett, a progressive activist, went to Capitol Hill to attend a press conference regarding Medicare for All legislation that was unveiled Wednesday, and noticed Higgins setting up for a separate news event along with Reps. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.).
"I figured I'd ask them some tough questions," Burdett toldThe Daily Beast. "Bird-dog them, whatever you want to call it."
He began filming the press conference and was asking Gosar questions when Higgins approached him. The congressman first asked Burdett to "just peacefully stand by with your camera" and wait for the event to conclude, after which Higgins promised to answer his questions.
When Burdett began asking another question of Boebert, Higgins approached Burdett again and said, "No, you're out" and he gripped the 25-year-old's arms and began forcing him away from the event.
Kristy Fogle, founder of the Maryland Progressive Healthcare Coalition, filmed the attack and posted it on Twitter, asking, "Pushing an activist for asking tough questions is supposed to be normal?"
\u201c@RepClayHiggins pushing an activist for asking tough questions is supposed to be normal?\u201d— Kristy Fogle PA-C (@Kristy Fogle PA-C) 1684355759
"We are Maryland political activists. It's not uncommon for us to come to D.C. and attempt to ask hard questions to Republicans AND Democrats," said Fogle. "But, I've never seen a representative behave this aggressively."
While Higgins was pushing him during the roughly 30-second altercation, Burdett said, "Aren't you a congressperson, touching me? Get off me!" while others in the crowd exclaimed, "This is assault!"
Capitol Police arrived at the scene shortly after Higgins pushed Burdett toward the street. They questioned Burdett for approximately half an hour and then said he was free to leave.
\u201cApparently some people think they can lay hands on another person whenever they feel like. That seems dangerous. \n\nAlso\u2026the police held someone for this incident\u2026and it wasn\u2019t the former police officer turned congressman, Clay Higgins\u2026.\u201d— Yuh-Line Niou (@Yuh-Line Niou) 1684391943
Higgins told KATC, an ABC affiliate in Lafayette, Louisiana, that Burdett caused a "103M," using the Capitol Police code for "disturbance by mental person," and said the activist was simply "escorted out and turned over to Capitol Police."
Critics who saw the video said Higgins' use of physical force to remove Burdett from the event was "absurd" and should result in charges for the congressman.
\u201cI once fired a junior officer for assaulting a soldier\u2026the issue is the subordinate has little recourse when assaulted. Had this guy fought back, he certainly would have been charged for assaulting a congressman. This is BS and @RepClayHiggins should be charged.\u201d— MarkHertling (@MarkHertling) 1684372890
"Republican Congressman Clay Higgins assaults citizen who dared ask him a question," said Kaivan Shroff, an attorney and political commentator. "Barely makes the news. Insane."
Burdett told The Daily Beast the incident didn't physically harm him, but left him "scared, intimidated, powerless, [and] defenseless," and wondering, "Who do I think the cops are going to crack down on: me, or the congressperson?"
"It's one thing for anybody to do that," he said. "But for a sitting U.S. congressperson to think that that's okay—it just shows an extra level of entitlement, that they feel they're untouchable and the law doesn't apply to them."
Fogle added that an assault on a citizen by a progressive or Democratic member of Congress would likely be loudly condemned by conservatives, and would not go unpunished.
\u201cImagine this was a member of the squad: \u201cNews at 11. AOC violently attacks a protestor for asking a question\u201d\u201d— Kristy Fogle PA-C (@Kristy Fogle PA-C) 1684355759
Burdett told The Daily Beast he was "evaluating" his legal options.
"If it looks like there is a strong case for assault and [there is] an attorney willing to take on the case," he said, "I am absolutely prepared to press charges."
Higgins drew condemnation from Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) last year when he yelled at an expert witness in a House Oversight Committee hearing on environmental injustice, addressing Raya Salter, the founder and executive director of the Energy Justice Law and Policy Center, as "boo" and "young lady."
In 2020, Higgins threatened to shoot Black Lives Matters protesters in a Facebook post that he later deleted.
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New Petition Pressures US House Members Not to Seat GOP Insurrectionists in 2023
The petition argues that Republican Reps. Paul Gosar, Lauren Boebert, and Marjorie Taylor Greene "are ineligible to hold future public office" under the 14th Amendment.
Dec 17, 2022
A pair of progressive advocacy groups launched a petition on Friday to pressure the U.S. House of Representatives not to seat returning members who supported the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
The petition, led by Free Speech for People and MoveOn, takes aim at three Republican members of Congress in particular, citing the section of the 14th Amendment that bars from federal office anyone who has taken an oath to support the Constitution then "engaged in insurrection or rebellion."
Reps. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) "are ineligible to hold future public office," the petition argues, "having voiced support for and helped facilitate the deadly insurrection on our nation's Capitol on January 6th, 2021."
The petition, which nearly 67,000 people have signed as of Saturday morning, continues:
Publicly available evidence establishes that Rep. Paul Gosar helped facilitate the insurrection, before, during, and after January 6, 2021. Not only was he among a handful of Congress members who expressed vocal support for the insurrection as it was happening , but, according to news reports, Gosar went so far as to offer organizers of the pre-attack demonstration a "blanket pardon" in connection with unrelated criminal investigations, encouraging what would no doubt be an illegal act of violence.
In the weeks leading up to January 6, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene publicly stated that violence might be necessary to keep Trump in power, exhorted her followers not to allow Congress to transfer power peacefully, and, the night before the attack, called the date "our 1776 moment" (a codeword used by violent extremists to refer to an attack on government buildings). Greene has since attempted to defend the violence on January 6 as justified by the Declaration of Independence, calling convicted participants in the insurrection "political prisoners of war." In December 2022, she bragged that "if" she had organized the attack, "we would have won. Not to mention, it would've been armed."
Rep. Lauren Boebert echoed Greene's coded sentiments during the insurrection, tweeting, "Today is 1776." She was billed as a speaker for the pre-attack Capitol protest, though she did not speak. Three days prior to the insurrection, Boebert released an ad featuring herself walking through federal buildings while brandishing a firearm, pledging to carry a handgun in the Capitol despite D.C. laws banning open carry. In addition, two January 6th organizers told Rolling Stone of "dozens" of planning meetings with Boebert and several other Congress members in the days leading up to the insurrection.
Free Speech for People and MoveOn note that a member-elect of the House--soon to be controlled by Republicans who supported former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election--"may challenge, under House procedures authorized by the Constitution, the qualifications of another member-elect" when the new Congress convenes next month.
"We must urge them to do so," the groups said.
The petition came a day after more than 40 House Democrats introduced legislation aiming to bar Trump from ever holding office again, also pointing the 14th Amendment's insurrection clause.
" Donald Trump very clearly engaged in an insurrection on January 6, 2021 with the intention of overturning the lawful and fair results of the 2020 election," said Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), the lead sponsor of the new bill. "You don't get to lead a government you tried to destroy."
Watchdog groups have also launched or pledged to launch legal efforts to bar Trump and other Republican insurrectionists from office, campaigns that have thus far fallen short in court. Earlier this year, a Georgia judge allowed Greene to remain on the 2022 midterm ballot after a group of voters represented by Free Speech for People sued to have her removed.
Greene was among the Republican lawmakers who asked Trump for a pardon over their roles in the January 6 attack, according to the House panel investigating the insurrection.
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