Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) was filmed physically assaulting Jake Burdett, a progressive activist, who was trying to ask questions to Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-GA) during a press conference in a public area in Washington D.C. on May 17, reports Common Dreams.
Burdett recalled the incident to The Daily Beast (Higgins refused to comment):
It’s one thing for anybody to do that. But for a sitting U.S. congressperson to think that that’s OK—it just shows an extra level of entitlement, that they feel they’re untouchable and the law doesn’t apply to them.
Buzzfeed News reported in 2002 that Higgins (then a police captain) threatened demonstrators (against the police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd) on Facebook, which was removed for “for breaking its violence and incitement policies, which state that content is removed if it ‘incites or facilitates serious violence.'”
Higgins tweeted a heavily-edited video of the May 17 incident and claimed Burdett was “threatening” and violating the law, but failed to provide any evidence or cite any laws.
Activist was a 103M. Threatening. He was escorted out and turned over to Capitol Police. Textbook. pic.twitter.com/n2GXaJTspJ
— Rep. Clay Higgins (@RepClayHiggins) May 18, 2023
(Sources: Kristy Fogelpac/Twitter,, Buzzfeed News, The Daily Beast, Common Dreams)