Veteran Whose Arm Was Broken While Protesting Iran War Faces Charges

The firefighter and Marine veteran who was dragged out of a Wednesday Senate war powers resolution vote for yelling, “No one wants to fight for Israel” is now facing criminal charges.

Brian McGinnis, in full uniform, can be seen on video being grabbed by Republican Senator Tim Sheehy and three police officers. They lift him up in the doorway while he screams his protest, with his hand still in the doorway. Then a snap can be heard, as McGinnis’s arm breaks.

They eventually put McGinnis down.

“The senator broke his hand! A sitting U.S. senator just broke the hand of a Marine! Control your Senate!” a bystander can be heard yelling.

McGinnis later confirmed his arm was broken. Now, even with his injuries, he has been criminally charged with assault on a police officer and resisting arrest. The GoFundMe in his name has already raised $48,000. McGinnis is also apparently a Green Party candidate for Senate in North Carolina.

“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,” Sheehy later wrote on X. “This gentleman came to the Capitol looking for a confrontation, and he got one. I hope he gets the help he needs without causing further violence.” In no way did Sheehy de-escalate the situation when he ran over and grabbed onto McGinnis.

Many were quick to call out the symbolic irony of the event. The current war on Iran, which the U.S. even admitted was at the behest of Israel at least somewhat, is massively unpopular. A veteran making that statement in the halls of the Senate and being seriously injured for it only underscores the administration’s blind commitment to waging war.

“Republicans claim to care about our troops, but the moment a veteran speaks out against Israel they treat him worse than they treat actual criminals,” a large conservative X account wrote.

“This is very, very ugly. And no US Senator needs to inject himself into this situation, for the safety of everyone—including himself,” Independent Veterans for America founder Paul Rieckhoff wrote. “Just unnecessary and terrible to watch. This is what an America falling apart looks like.”

Even the contemptible alt-right commentator Nick Fuentes chimed in.

“This is just a picture of America right now. Which you have a U.S. Marine—these are the people actually prosecuting the war, actually fighting the war … and they’re being sent out now into yet another ridiculous regime change war in the Middle East for Israel. And that’s what the guy says, he says ‘look, we don’t wanna die for Israel,” Fuentes said. “And look at the way that he’s being treated. Literally dragged out of the chamber by the cops, a U.S. Senator jumps into action … they smash his hand in the door. That’s the picture of America. That marine is all of us.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s remark Wednesday about U.S. troops dying in the Middle East was so callous it reportedly stunned everyone—including Pentagon officials.

During a press briefing, Hegseth claimed that the press was only reporting on the deaths of American soldiers in order to “make the president look bad.”

“But when a few drones get through or tragic things happen, it’s front-page news,” he said. “I get it, the press only wants to make the president look bad—but try for once to report the reality.”

The Atlantic’s Nancy Youssef, who was present for the briefing, told her colleague that Hegseth’s comment “sent a stunned silence through the briefing room.”

She claimed that some members of Hegseth’s staff appeared to flinch at what he was saying, while others ducked their heads.

Youssef said that one person quietly but audibly remarked: “That was one of the most insulting things I have ever heard.”

Hegseth’s heartless remarks come as lawmakers warn that more U.S. soldiers are likely to die in Trump’s escalating military campaign in Iran. So far, six service members have died after a drone struck their makeshift operations center in Kuwait on Sunday.

Hegseth has repeatedly proven that he is a weak and frivolous advocate for Donald Trump’s illegal war in Iran, which has already spiraled out into a regional conflict. The secretary has failed to provide answers for entering a conflict without congressional approval and refused to clearly state U.S. objectives or even gesture at a timeline. Clearly, he’s more interested in using dead soldiers as a lever to whine about the media, and openly bragging about not following the rules of engagement.

On Wednesday, the Senate refused to block President Donald Trump from using further military force on Iran, as a war powers resolution failed by a vote of 53–47.*

Senator John Fetterman was the only Democrat to vote against the resolution. Senator Rand Paul was the only Republican to vote for the resolution. This was Congress’s first vote on the war.

The news came on the fifth day of a joint U.S. and Israeli bombing campaign on Iran. Prior to the vote, Trump ranted about Chinese windmills during a press conference and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the U.S. bombed Iran due to a “feeling” Trump had about an imminent attack.

* This story has been updated with a correct vote count.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem got hot under the collar when asked if she was sleeping with one of her employees.

Corey Lewandowski’s official title at DHS is that of an unpaid, temporary “special government employee,” but for years, the rumor around Washington has been that he’s also Noem’s paramour. Multiple sources told New York magazine’s Ben Terris last year that the two have a romantic relationship. Noem was spotted on Lewandowski’s lap during one conservative conference in 2019; a FEMA official later told Terris their entanglement was the “worst-kept secret in D.C.”

In a House Judiciary hearing Wednesday, California Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove asked Noem if she has had sexual relations with Lewandowski during her time at DHS.

Noem reacted with indignation. “I’m shocked we’re going down and peddling tabloid garbage in this hearing,” she said, before proceeding to talk over Kamlager-Dove while the representative tried to reclaim her time.

“You should be able to answer … if someone is asking if you or any federal official is sleeping with their subordinate.… You should be wanting to answer that question,” Kamlager-Dove said.

“It’s garbage,” Noem shot back. “It’s offensive.”

With the help of Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, Kamlager-Dove reclaimed her time.

“It’s about your judgment and decision-making,” Kamlager-Dove said. “It’s about the 260,000 employees that work under you that want to make sure that you are giving information and making decisions clearly. It is about conflict of interest. It is about a national security risk.”

That Noem sleeping with an employee could present a national security risk may sound silly, but Lewandowski has already been handed inexplicable access to the department. Axios determined that Lewandowski has been present at DHS headquarters for far longer than his temporary contract permitted as a special government employee, while Politico reported that he has had oversight over six-figure DHS contracts in his role. Former DHS employee Cameron Hamilton told Terris that he was fired by Lewandowski while the latter sat and smirked from behind Noem’s desk.

So yes, Lewandowski already holds a concerning amount of power with DHS. Fortunately, Noem dodging questions about their relationship will only bring more scrutiny on how America’s top security official likes to mix business with pleasure. “Tabloid garbage,” indeed.

The Department of Homeland Security tapped a little-known ad firm to produce Kristi Noem’s multimillion-dollar ad campaign during the government shutdown last year. But when asked to explain her rationale before a House Oversight Committee hearing Wednesday, Noem was practically speechless.

Reading off a DHS notice, Colorado Representative Joe Neguse noted that the department had identified just four companies “out of the hundreds of thousands of companies in the United States” as potential hires for the campaign.

“One of those is this Safe America Media Company. Where is Safe America Media headquartered?” asked Colorado Representative Joe Neguse.

“I don’t know,” Noem replied.

DHS paid Safe America Media $143 million in no-bid contracts between February and August 2025 to produce a slate of anti-immigrant ads for ICE Barbie. Months later, ProPublica reported that it was unlikely Safe America Media, which was formed just eight days before it won the DHS contract, would have been able to handle a nine-figure government contract.

However, subcontractors are not required to be made public in federal contracting databases, effectively allowing the whopping taxpayer sum to vanish in an untraceable dark-money network. Exactly where and to whom Safe America Media dished out its millions is still unclear, though the consulting company behind one of Noem’s late 2025 videos spilled the beans.

The money from Noem’s agency was funneling directly into the pockets of her friends and allies at the Strategy Group, a group with myriad ties to the ex–South Dakota governor, including having once employed her alleged beau (Corey Lewandowski) and a CEO who is married to Noem’s ex-chief DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.

Safe America Media, meanwhile, has no website, no experience, and quiet contracts. The only substantial evidence that the company actually exists at all is that it shares an address with a property owned by veteran Republican operative Michael McElwain.

“Is there a problem with this contract?” drawled the secretary.

“You want the American people to believe that this is all above board, that $143 million of taxpayer money just happened to go to this one company that doesn’t have a headquarters, doesn’t have a website, has never done work for the federal government before, and is registered apparently or attached to a residence from a political operative, and of course one of the subcontractors of that contract, as you know, is a political firm that’s tied to, to you back when you were governor of South Dakota?” pressed Neguse. “The reason why I ask these questions is because this is taxpayer money.

“Eventually the facts will become public in this regard.”