Connect with us

RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

US Congressman Accused of Assaulting Activist Previously Has Threatened Demonstrators With Violence

Published

on

U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, a far-right wing Republican from Louisiana, is being highly-criticized after viral video appeared to show him physically pushing and removing a young man from a Washington, D.C, press conference hosted by far-right GOP members of Congress Loren Boebert and Paul Gosar. Higgins, who previously has threatened protestors, is now being accused of assault by the man, who could be heard in the clip saying, “you’re hurting me.”

The man Rep. Higgins removed, 25-year old Jake Burdett, posted video of himself asking pointed questions to both Boebert and Gosar, interrupting the small gathering.

“I figured I’d ask them some tough questions,” Burdett told The Daily Beast. “Bird-dog them, whatever you want to call it.”

“Rep. Gosar, can you talk about when you did that rally with the neo-Nazi, Nick Fuentes? Can you talk about when your family did a ad all endorsing your opponent?” Burdett says in the video. “Representative Boebert, can you talk about your divorce? Did it have anything to do with giving food poisoning to Shooter’s Bar and Grill?”

Seconds later, Congressman Higgins apparently grabs Burdett, and tells him, “No. You’re out. You’re out.”

As he grabs him, Burdett says, “Aren’t you a congressperson, touching me?” and then, “Get off me! You’re hurting me!”

RELATED: ‘I’d Drop Any 10 of You’: Gun Nut Congressman Threatens to Shoot Black Armed Protesters in Paranoid Rant

The Daily Beast reports, “Burdett wasn’t injured in the incident, he told The Daily Beast. But he felt ‘scared, intimidated, powerless, defenseless.’ He couldn’t exactly push back, he added later in an interview. ‘Like, who do I think the cops are going to crack down on: me, or the congressperson?'”

Video taken by Kristy Fogle, which offers a clear view of Higgins grabbing and pushing Burdett has gone viral with over 9 million views.

In the background someone can be heard saying, “Get this on video, this is assault.”

Burdett seems to think so too. On social media he asked if any attorneys thought it was, and one called it, “assault, battery, and a potential civil rights violation.”

Burdett also posted videos he apparently recorded. On Twitter he says, “Rep Clay Higgins proceeded to assault/physically remove me from the press conference.”

So who is U.S. Congressman Clay Higgins?

Before he was a member of Congress, Higgins was a law enforcement officer, which might explain why he is defending his actions by accusing Burdett of appearing threatening and mentally unstable.

RELATED: ‘Utter Delusion’: Legal Expert Smacks Down GOP Congressman’s Claims of ‘Election Crimes’ in CNN Appearance

In a statement to KATC, Higgins said, “Activist was a 103M. Threatening. He was escorted out and turned over to Capitol Police. Textbook.”

One website defines 103M as “Disturbance by mental person.”

But Higgins is a U.S. Congressman, not a physician, not a mental health professional, not a law enforcement officer in Washington D.C., and it’s unclear why he would be authorized to diagnose or physically remove someone exercising their First Amendment rights.

A damning September 2020 Buzzfeed News article reveals Congressman Higgins had ties to the Oath Keepers, an anti-government extremist group that just months later would go on to play a role in the January 6, 2021 insurrection. Oath Keepers founder and leader, Stewart Rhodes, in November of 2022 was convicted of seditious conspiracy, along with eight other members of that group.

“Facebook removed two posts from a Republican member of Congress representing Louisiana,” Buzzfeed News reported in 2020, referring to Higgins, “in which he threatened demonstrators against police violence, suggesting he would shoot and ‘drop any 10 of you where you stand’ if they took to the street armed.”

“If this shows up, we’ll consider the armed presence a real threat,” Higgins wrote on his personal, verified “Captain Clay Higgins” Facebook page, Buzzfeed reported, noting his post included “a picture of an armed Black militia group that has protested the police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.”

“We don’t care what color you are. We don’t care if you’re left or right. If you show up like this, if We recognize threat… you won’t walk away.”

In that Facebook post Higgins also wrote, “I wouldn’t even spill my beer. … We are SWAT. Nothing personal. We just eliminate the threat. … That’s not a challenge, fellas. It’s a promise.”

“You’re the ones threatening, if you show yourselves, aggressively natured and armed in my presence,” he also wrote. “We don’t want to see your worthless ass nor do we want to make your Mothers cry.”

READ MORE: Marjorie Taylor Greene Says She Feels ‘Threatened’ by Black Democratic Congressman – Wants People to ‘Watch’ Him (Video)

Buzzfeed states that “Higgins did not explicitly threaten to shoot protesters, but seemed to make reference to it in his post by writing ‘1,450 fps’ – a reference to the speed of some ammo measured by feet per second.”

This screenshot appears to be the post Facebook deleted.

It was curious for Higgins to threaten violence against the protesters, essentially for being armed, because Louisiana is an open-carry state. In fact, Higgins is so devoted to the Second Amendment, in 2021 he declared his opposition to all gun control laws because murder is in the Bible, while appearing to suggest it is in man’s nature to kill, and that America is a Christian nation.

Meanwhile, Buzzfeed also reported, “On July 29, 2017, Higgins appeared at a DC event organized by Oath Keepers, a group that claims to have tens of thousands of members and has been described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a radical anti-government group.”

“Higgins is a former law enforcement officer and was a member of a SWAT team. He resigned from the Opelousas Police Department in 2007 after an internal investigation accused him of using unnecessary force on a suspect (he has since denied that was the reason for his resignation),” Buzzfeed adds.

Former FBI Deputy Assistant Director of the Bureau’s Counterintelligence Division, Pete Strzok, on Wednesday responded to video of Higgins by saying, “Same guy who quit being a patrol officer before he could be disciplined for using unnecessary force on a subject (‘striking a subject in handcuffs’) and then lying about it.”

Up until recently, Higgins was possibly best known, while in Congress, for shooting a selfie political video inside the Auschwitz gas chamber.

As NCRM previously reported, Higgins last year was one of 33 Republicans sponsoring a federal, vigilante “Don’t Say Gay” bill. He was one of 28 House Republicans who refused to vote for the bipartisan Respect for Child Survivors Act, which would aid victims of child sex abuse and their families.

This year he became one of 26 Republicans on the House Oversight Committee who refused to sign a simple, two-sentence statement denouncing white supremacy.

RELATED: ‘Just Like Public Pools Were Closed in the South’: Shock as State and Local Governments Try to Shutter Public Libraries

Just last month Congressman Higgins voiced opposition to the separation of church and state, while attacking liberal Americans and, seemingly the LGBTQ community along with one of the cornerstones of American democracy.

“Over time,” Higgins tweeted, “American communities will build beautiful, church owned public-access libraries. I’m going to help these churches get funding. We will change the whole public library paradigm. The libraries regular Americans recall are gone. They’ve become liberal grooming centers.”

And one month before that, in March, Congressman Higgins promoted the idea of using the power of the federal government to assist and support someone who was under investigation and later charged with 34 felonies.

“It is pretty clearly a wrongful persecution of a free American citizen who happens to be the former president of the United States,” Rep. Higgins told The Daily Beast, referring to Donald Trump. “Because of those circumstances, I think it’s appropriate for Congress to inquire into what drove that decision making process for [Manhattan DA Alvin] Bragg.”

A Change.org petition with over 1000 signatures is asking for Congressman Higgins to be charged with assault.

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

law

Arkansas Senator Files Bill to Abolish State Library, Give Education Department Control

Published

2 months ago

on

March 21, 2025

By

The right-wing war on knowledge continues as an Arkansas state senator filed a bill Thursday to abolish the State Library as well as the library board.

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Jonesboro), along with State Rep. Wayne Long (R-Bradford), filed Senate Bill 536 on Thursday. The bill would not just remove all references to the State Library from existing laws, but also put the state’s other libraries under the control of the Arkansas Department of Education.

A previous version of the bill, SB184, would have also shuttered the Arkansas Educational Television Commission, which oversees the state’s PBS stations, according to the Arkansas Advocate.

READ MORE: Clean Up Alabama Wants State to Dump ‘Marxist’ American Library Association

The Arkansas State Library is not just a regular library. In addition to providing information to state agencies and lawmakers, it also distributes funding to the other libraries around the state. Under SB536, the Department of Education would take on all its responsibilities. The State Library is officially a part of the Department of Education already, but it operates as an independent organization.

While the proposal may sound like a shuffling-around of duties, the main thrust of the bill is to allow more direct control over the Arkansas library system by controlling the purse strings. The bill would keep libraries from distributing “age-inappropriate materials” to those under 17 years old and sex education materials from those under 12. Libraries would also have to set up a system where those in the community could request that certain items be banned for minors, according to KARK-TV. Those that don’t meet these restrictions will have state funding pulled.

Earlier legislation filed by Sullivan and passed into law includes Act 242, which ended the requirement for library directors to have a master’s degree in library science, the Advocate reported.  Sullivan, however, was unsuccessful with a proposed amendment to another bill that would strip funding from libraries affiliated with the American Library Association—meaning most, if not all of them. That amendment was rejected this week over concerns the language in it was too broad, according to the Advocate.

The ALA has been a target of right-wing politicians and activists upset with its free speech stance and fights against censorship. Sullivan in particular has objected to a provision in the ALA’s Library Bill of Rights protecting library access for all ages, the Advocate reported. He also called for the state’s chapter of the ALA to be defunded—despite the fact that it receives no state funding.

Image via Shutterstock

Continue Reading

BIGOTRY

Texas to Investigate Anonymous Complaint Teachers Used Trans Student’s Pronouns

Published

2 months ago

on

March 21, 2025

By

After a Moms for Liberty member claimed that teachers at a Texas high school used a trans student’s new name and proper pronouns, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott ordered an investigation.

On February 13, Denise Bell of the right wing, anti-LGBTQ group Moms for Liberty, addressed the Houston Independent School Board. She read a statement that she said came from the parents of a trans student at Bellaire High School. The parents were upset that teachers used the student’s new name and pronouns, according to Erin in the Morning. The anonymous statement Bell read said that the change happened without parental consent, and “goes against our Christian faith, the advice of [their] therapist and quite frankly common sense.”

Bell then claimed that the school district was “purposely and secretively transitioning minors.”

READ MORE: GOP Candidate Complaining She Wasn’t Allowed to ‘Have Kids Laugh At’ Transgender Students in Viral Video Draws Rebuke

State Representative Steve Toth—who represents a different district than the school is in—informed Abbott of the complaint in a letter on February 26. Two weeks later, Abbott replied to Toth’s letter, revealing he told the Texas Education Agency to investigate the Bellaire High School, accusing the teachers of helping “to ‘socially transition’ a student—violating the express wishes of the child’s mother,” which Abbott called “inappropriate and potentially unlawful.”

Abbott directed the TEA to not just determine whether or not the teachers did indeed use the trans student’s name and pronouns, but also open a full investigation into the school. TEA was told to find out if the school had also violated “policies concerning sexual education curriculum, parental consent for communications with students, mental health services or guidance to students, and parent grievances”; if any school employees had “engaged in misconduct”; and whether any student “has been subjected to abuse or neglect.”

That last one has a footnote on “abuse or neglect,” referring to a statement from President Donald Trump’s March 4 speech in front of a joint session of Congress:

“A few years ago, January Littlejohn and her husband discovered that their daughter’s school had secretly socially transitioned their 13-year-old little girl. Teachers and administrators conspired to deceive January and her husband, while encouraging her daughter to use a new name and pronouns—‘they/them’ pronouns, actually—all without telling January, who is here tonight and is now a courageous advocate against this form of child abuse.”

This is not the first time Abbott and his administration have attacked the state’s trans community. In his “State of the State Address” this year, he said that teachers who discuss gender transition with students should be fired, according to KTRK-TV. Texas has also banned trans students from sports as well as the use of puberty blockers in cases of minors experiencing gender dysphoria, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Image via Shutterstock

Continue Reading

AMERICA FIRST?

Tim Walz: ‘Racism’ Motivates MAGA Movement to Pardon Derek Chauvin

Published

2 months ago

on

March 20, 2025

By

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz didn’t mince words when asked what the motivation was for the new movement among MAGA Republicans to convince President Donald Trump to pardon Derek Chauvin, the former police officer who killed George Floyd in 2020.

“Racism. It’s racist. OK? That’s what I believe,” Walz said in an interview with Semafor published Wednesday.

The calls to pardon Chauvin started with an online petition earlier this month, according to The Independent. The pardon push picked up steam this week when conservative commentator Ben Shapiro of the Daily Wire launched a webseries, “The Case of Derek Chauvin.” Shapiro claims the officer was convicted on “extraordinarily scanty evidence,” saying Floyd did not die from having Chauvin’s knee on his neck for over nine minutes, but rather from drugs in Floyd’s system and heart disease.

READ MORE: Derek Chauvin Sentenced to 22-and-a-Half Years for Murder of George Floyd – Less Than Maximum Possible Sentence

Walz, however, disputes this interpretation of events.

“This was a man who murdered George Floyd on TV,” Walz said, adding that a pardon “would undermine the faith in the system.”

The White House, however, has denied that a Chauvin pardon is in Trump’s plans. Earlier this month, Trump said he hadn’t even heard about a push to pardon Floyd’s killer, and on Wednesday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt repeated that a pardon is “not something he’s considering at this time,” according to The Grio.

However, some commentators, like The Hill’s Juan Williams are skeptical, pointing out that Trump has pardoned two police officers convicted of killing a Black man in the first days of his second term.

In 2020, after the killing, Trump condemned Chauvin.

“We all saw what we saw. It’s hard to conceive anything other than what we did see. It should have never happened,” Trump said.

If Trump were to pardon Chauvin, it would be largely moot. Presidents can only pardon those convicted on federal charges. Chauvin was convicted on both federal and Minnesota state charges. In the event Trump cleared the federal charges, the main thing that would happen is that Chauvin would be moved from the federal prison in Big Spring, Texas to a Minnesota state prison.

Minnesota sentenced Chauvin to 22 and a half years for murder; on the federal level, he was sentenced to 21 years for violating Floyd’s civil rights. Barring a federal pardon, the two sentences are running concurrently, not consecutively.

Image via Shutterstock

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.