A REPUBLICAN US senator helped Capitol Police forcibly remove a Marine veteran from a Senate hearing after he began a protest inside the building against the war on Iran, in an incident that left several people injured.

Video footage shows Senator Tim Sheehy of Montana joining police as they attempted to drag a man from a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing room on Wednesday.

Senator Sheehy joined Capitol Police in lifting up and ejecting anti war protestor Brian McGinnis from a SASC subcommittee hearing. McGinnis is a Green Party candidate running for Senate in N.C. An antiwar activist filmed the video below: pic.twitter.com/0dVA0ORWXQ

— Alan He (@alanhe) March 4, 2026

The incident took place during a hearing of the committee in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington DC.

Footage shared online shows three US Capitol Police officers attempting to remove the man from the room before Sheehy joins them, lifting one of the protester’s legs as they try to pull him out.

The man can be heard shouting “no one wants to fight for Israel” while bystanders nearby call out that his hand was caught in the door.

At one point the officers stop pulling him as the protester appears to complain that his hand is injured. Sheehy then walks back toward the front of the room.

Sheehy later said on social media that police had been trying to remove the protester when the situation escalated.

“He was fighting back,” Sheehy wrote on X. “I decided to help out and de-escalate the situation.”

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. I hope he gets the help he… https://t.co/MU1THo8fKA

— Tim Sheehy (@TimSheehyMT) March 4, 2026

Capitol Police later identified the man as 44-year-old Brian McGinnis from North Carolina.

He has been charged with three counts of assaulting a police officer, as well as three counts of resisting arrest and unlawful demonstration.

Police said three officers were treated for injuries following the incident, and that McGinnis also received treatment following the forceful ejection.

“The suspect, who got his own arm stuck in a door to resist our officers and force his way back into the hearing room, was also treated,” a Capitol Police spokesperson said in a statement.

“Wednesday afternoon, an unruly man who started to illegally protest during a hearing, put everyone in a dangerous position by violently resisting and fighting our officer’s attempts to remove him from the room,” the statement said.

McGinnis is a US Marine veteran and is running as a Green Party candidate in North Carolina’s upcoming US Senate race, according to his campaign website.

Earlier on Wednesday, a video posted to social media showed McGinnis outside the Capitol saying he had travelled to Washington to question lawmakers about the military campaign against Iran.

“I’m here in DC trying to speak out against the Senate and ask them why they’re going to send our men and women into harm’s way,” he said in the video.

A GoFundMe page started for McGinnis has since raised over $52,000.

pic.twitter.com/t6kSX68kLI

— Brian McGinnis (@BrianMcGinnisNC) March 4, 2026

The protest happened amid escalating tensions following joint US and Israeli strikes on Iran on Saturday, which have raised fears of a wider regional conflict.

Protests are not permitted inside US congressional buildings, though demonstrations are allowed in designated areas around the Capitol complex.