A U.S. Air Force major was arrested Wednesday for protesting alone on House steps as he called for the immediate impeachment and removal of President Donald Trump.
Maj. Jason Watson was arrested by Capitol Police officers at approximately 1:15 p.m. local time for demonstrating on the House steps without a sitting member of Congress, Capitol Police told Military Times. Watson, an active-duty service member with a military career dating over 20 years, walked halfway up the steps of the House to its chained railing to hold a sign that read “Impeach Convict Remove.”
Watson was first escorted to the bottom of the steps by Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, who then left the area, causing the officers to arrest Watson under 22-1307 Crowding, Obstructing and Incommoding.
“When the Member of Congress left the area, our officers gave the man lawful orders to stop the illegal demonstration, or he would be arrested,” the spokesperson said. “The man refused our lawful orders.”
The spokesperson highlighted that there are other areas on the Capitol where demonstrating is allowed.
Watson stoically stood wearing his uniform on the steps for roughly one minute before officers first approached him. Another minute later, he was again approached by an officer, who spoke to him briefly and was nodded at by Watson, as shown in video footage posted by Removal Coalition founder Jessica Denson, who organized the demonstration.
Over a minute later, Watson was approached for a third time. But this time, he quietly and peacefully placed his sign down and was arrested by Capitol Police before being escorted off the steps by multiple officers as protesters chants of “Who do you serve? Who do you protect?” rang clear.
Prior to the protest, Watson held a press conference alongside Greene, Denson, constitutional lawyer Bruce Fein, Defenders of Our Republic and About Face Veterans, calling on Trump’s and Vice President JD Vance’s impeachment and removal from office.
Denson, who introduced Watson for his speech, said that Watson is currently on leave from his commission post as a logistics readiness officer in Poland. She said that he approached the Removal Coalition in February and asked them to create this event for him so that it would not be in “vain.”
“The question of whether or not his sacrifice, his risk of prosecution, his potential forfeiture of the benefits of an entire [over 20] year career in the military is worth it is whether you follow through with the pressure that is needed on Congress to impeach, convict and remove,” Denson said, calling on the audience and fellow protestors.
Active-duty service members are strictly prohibited from engaging in partisan political activities, especially while in uniform, per the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Those who do can face criminal or administrative punishment, such as imprisonment, loss of pay, dishonorable discharge and more.
“Service members must comply with all laws, regulations and policies governing conduct and the wear of the uniform,” an Air Force spokesperson told Military Times. “As commanders verify inappropriate actions, they are responsible for taking the necessary administrative and disciplinary actions to hold service members accountable.”
The Air Force confirmed that Watson’s title is staff officer with the current duty station of Bydgoszcz, Poland. He entered active duty in late May 2009.
In his speech before taking to the steps, Watson said he entered basic cadet training in the U.S. Air Force Academy in late June 2005 when he first spoke the oath of enlistment, calling it foundational to the system of government and pertinent to ensure all officials owe allegiance to the Constitution instead of to a political party.
He said that the greatest threat to the country’s democratic republic was not a foreign one but domestic. “We the people” have played a part in getting the country into the “mess we are all in,” he said.
“For the past 18 months, we the people have allowed the highest levels of the executive branch of the federal government to violate our Constitution and their oaths to it with impunity,” Watson stated.
“When the President of the United States orders military action against foreign countries absent an emergency scenario where American interests are under imminent dire threat, 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,” he continued.
Watson said that the violations caused the death of 13 service members and injuries of hundreds more, and for that, Trump and Vance should be impeached, convicted and removed from office.
The major also pointed to other “violations,” such as Elon Musk being allowed to shut down large portions of the federal government and granted access to government databases as well as Trump directing the Department of Homeland Security to deny due process before illegally detaining people and sending them to CECOT, a foreign prison in El Salvador notorious for human rights abuses.
In Watson’s view, Trump “sponsors violence” on the American people engaged in their right to peacefully assemble and protest as protected by the First Amendment as a reason for the pair’s removal.
Watson said there are “innumerable more impeachable offenses” that he could list, including denying congressional oversight of immigrant detention centers, suing media, law firms and educational institutions, weaponizing the Department of Justice and attempting to reverse birthright citizenship.
Although Green did not speak at the conference, he was addressed by Watson who referred to himself as not a Democrat. A spokesperson for Green denied to comment on if the representative was aware that Watson would be arrested for not being escorted atop the House steps.
Green was the only member of Congress who voted to impeach Trump during his second term. The resolution was dismissed, with the House voting 237-140 to table the measure.
“I am calling on average Americans everywhere to peacefully exercise your First Amendment rights en masse every day until this administration is removed and our democratic republic is restored,” Watson stated.
“If just a nobody like me can take a stand for our Constitution and our democratic republic, then you can too. I hope you will join me in the defense of our republic,” he concluded.
Capitol Police said he is not being held.
A Spot Fund that was created to gather donations for Watson’s defense has garnered nearly $70,000 as of Thursday afternoon.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Watson is the first-ever active-duty commissioned officer in the military to publicly protest for the impeachment, conviction and removal of Trump and Vance.
Cristina Stassis is a reporter covering stories surrounding the defense industry, national security, military/veteran affairs and more. She previously worked as an editorial fellow for Defense News in 2024 where she assisted the newsroom in breaking news across Sightline Media Group.
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