Republican Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana physically removed a disruptive protester from a news conference outside of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.
He later defended his actions in a short statement and he also implied the man he escorted away was mentally ill.
In a video shared on Twitter, the congressman can be seen approaching a man and then escorting him to a sidewalk while other protesters in the vicinity accused him of assault.
The man appeared to be with a group called the Maryland Progressive Healthcare Coalition.
He was wearing a T-shirt that featured a quote from Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont on the back.
@RepClayHiggins pushing an activist for asking tough questions is supposed to be normal? pic.twitter.com/CQx6s3PCQ3
— Kristy Fogle PA-C (@kristyfoglePAC) May 17, 2023
KATC-TV obtained a statement from Higgins after the incident in which he defended his actions.
“Activist was a 103M. Threatening. He was escorted out and turned over to Capitol Police. Textbook,” Higgins said.
In police code, “103M” almost universally means a “disturbance by a mental person.”
Higgins served as a police officer for years prior to his career in politics.
Kristy Fogle, who shared the video on Twitter, describes herself as the founder of the Maryland Progressive Healthcare Coalition.
She complained about Higgins’ actions online and argued people from her group routinely resort to disruptive tactics and also claimed the group’s activists yell at members of both parties.
Imagine this was a member of the squad: “News at 11. AOC violently attacks a protestor for asking a question”
— Kristy Fogle PA-C (@kristyfoglePAC) May 18, 2023
The thing we need to be asking ourselves is “what if this were a member of the Democratic Party assaulting a protestor?” If any sitting member of Congress can put their hands on someone with impunity, we have a big problem.
— Kristy Fogle PA-C (@kristyfoglePAC) May 18, 2023
We are Maryland political activists. It’s not uncommon for us to come to DC and attempt to ask hard questions to Republicans AND Democrats. But, I’ve never seen a Rep. behave this aggressively.
— Kristy Fogle PA-C (@kristyfoglePAC) May 18, 2023
Higgins never struck the man on the video or otherwise appeared to lose his temper.
According to WBRZ-TV, the man on the video was detained by Capitol police and accused Higgins of assaulting him.
It is unclear how long the man was detained or whether he intends to file a formal complaint.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.