An active-duty Air Force major was arrested on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday after delivering remarks calling for the impeachment and removal of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, according to Capitol Police.
Authorities said Air Force Maj. Jason Watson was initially participating in a demonstration alongside Rep. Al Green (D-Texas). While peaceful demonstrations are permitted on Capitol grounds, Capitol Police said individuals may only openly address crowds from the Capitol steps while accompanied by a member of Congress.
After Green departed, officers instructed Watson to leave the steps or face arrest. According to Capitol Police, Watson refused to comply and was subsequently arrested on charges of crowding, obstructing and incommoding.
Before his arrest, Watson accused the Trump administration of violating constitutional limits on presidential authority by ordering military action against foreign countries.
“When the president of the United States orders military action against foreign countries — absent an emergency scenario where American interests are under imminent dire threats, as was done with Venezuela, Cuba and Iran — that’s an unconstitutional usurpation of Congress’s authority and a violation of the War Powers Clause,” Watson told those gathered.
He went on to claim that those actions resulted in the deaths of 13 service members and injuries to hundreds more.
“For this, the president and vice president must be impeached, convicted and removed,” Watson declared.
The Air Force officer continued by outlining additional grievances against the administration. His remarks criticized actions involving the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Department of Homeland Security’s mass deportation efforts, and the deaths of U.S. citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Good, which he attributed to immigration authorities.
Watson also accused the administration of violating Americans’ First Amendment rights.
“When the president of the United States sponsors violence on the American people engaged in their constitutional right to peacefully assemble and protest, that’s a violation of our First Amendment rights,” Watson said.
He also referenced what he described as pastors praying for DHS agents being violently attacked without provocation during the second Trump administration.
The major further cited an incident from January in which a legal observer lost his left eye after being struck by a nonlethal projectile fired by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.
He additionally described the fatal shooting of a woman who, according to Watson, was attempting to follow conflicting instructions from DHS agents, as well as the shooting of another man whom Watson said had already been subdued and no longer posed a threat after his firearm had been removed.
Watson also criticized statements made by senior Cabinet officials, arguing they violated Second Amendment rights.
“For this, the president and vice president must be impeached, convicted and removed,” he repeated before concluding his remarks by reciting the U.S. Air Force oath of office.
Following Watson’s arrest, Green praised the officer’s actions in a video posted afterward.
The Texas congressman, who was removed from the House chamber during President Trump’s first joint address to Congress of his second term and during his State of the Union address earlier this year, described Watson’s protest as an act of courage.
“He stood for impeachment of the president on the Capitol Grounds, and thereafter he walked up the steps where he was arrested, and he was taken away,” Green said.
“This is the kind of courage necessary to inspire others to understand that liberty and justice for all that we pledge allegiance to is something that we can make real,” the congressman added.
Green continued by saying that achieving liberty and justice for all requires the kind of courage he believes Watson demonstrated during the protest.
In addition to the criminal charges filed following his arrest, Watson could also face military disciplinary action or a court-martial under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
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