An Air Force officer was placed into military custody after he was arrested in uniform after calling for President Trump's impeachment. (Shutterstock)
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An active-duty officer was placed into Air Force custody after he was arrested in uniform on Wednesday after an event in which he called for the impeachment, conviction and removal of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
The U.S. Capitol Police arrested the officer, Maj. Jason Watson, who identified himself as an active-duty service member, on the Capitol steps.
He was attending a news conference organized by the Removal Coalition, a grassroots activist group. Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, who has filed articles of impeachment against Trump at least six times, also attended the event.
Officer Accuses Trump of Violating His Oath of Office
During his speech, Watson, who said he was not a member of the Democratic Party, accused the president and vice president of violating both the Constitution and their oaths of office.
Watson ended his speech, in which he criticized the Trump administration’s immigration policies as well as its actions in Venezuela and Iran, by calling on Americans “to peacefully exercise your First Amendment rights.”
After the news conference, he stood on the Capitol steps holding a sign with the words “Impeach,” “Convict” and “Remove.” Shortly afterward, he was arrested on suspicion of “crowding, obstructing and incommoding,” the U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement on Friday.
“It is generally against the law for the public to demonstrate on the House steps unless they are with a member of Congress,” the police said. The statement noted that Watson had been “escorted to the House steps by a member of Congress” and that after the member left, “our officers gave the man lawful orders to stop the illegal demonstration.”
Detained at an Air Force Base
Jessica Denson, founder of the Removal Coalition, said Friday that the D.C. attorney general’s office elected not to prosecute Watson for his protest, but he was “taken directly into custody by the Air Force yesterday.”
“He is being detained in an Air Force base as we speak and is currently under a military gag order,” she said.
Christopher J. Mutimer, a lawyer for Watson, said his client has not been criminally charged but was under investigation for several violations of the Uniformed Code of Military Justice.
Service members are prohibited from using “contemptuous words” against the president, vice president, Congress and other top officials under Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Military members are also banned from wearing their uniforms while participating in political activities, such as rallies, according to the Department of Defense Standards of Conduct Office.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
By Aimee Ortiz
c.2026 The New York Times Company
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