Rep. Al Green was ejected from the House of Representatives chamber Tuesday night after the Texas Democrat repeatedly heckled President Donald Trump as he gave a speech to a joint session of Congress.
Green was removed from the chamber at the order of House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who warned him several times to stop interrupting Trump.
The highly unusual ejection did nothing to stop Green’s fellow Democrats from showing their disdain for the Republican president, who was twice impeached by the House of Representatives, and later acquitted by the Senate during and in the immediate aftermath of his first term.
“You’re a liar!” some Democrats yelled.
“Those are lies!” some Democrats shouted during Trump’s speech.
A number of House Democrats walked out of the House chamber during Trump’s speech, after Green was removed. Before that, some Democrats stood with their backs to the president.
Rep. Al Green (D-TX) shouts out as U.S. President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on March 04, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Win Mcnamee | Via Reuters
Green’s ejection came in the early minutes of Trump’s speech. The Texan stood and shook his cane at the president as he yelled.
“Members are directed to uphold and maintain decorum in the House and to cease any further disruptions,” Johnson said.
“Mr. Green, take your seat, take your seat sir,” the speaker warned.
Vice President JD Vance gestured with his thumb to boot the lawmaker.
When Green refused to stop heckling Trump, Johnson told the House sergeant at arms to take the lawmaker out.
People hold protest signs during U.S. President Donald Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress, in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 4, 2025.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
“Remove this gentleman from the chamber,” the speaker said, drawing raucous cheers from the Republicans in attendance.
Some GOP lawmakers chanted “nah, nah, nah, nah, goodbye,” and Vance did a slow clap as Green prepared to walk out.
Green, who represents a district from Houston, has previously filed articles of impeachment against Trump.
Veteran Capitol Hill reporter Jamie Dupree later tweeted that Green’s ejection was the first for a member of Congress that Dupree had seen covering presidential speeches on Capitol Hill since 1987.
Green’s removal came three years after two Republican House members, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Colorado’s Lauren Boebert, repeatedly interrupted President Joe Biden during his State of the Union address.
Neither of those women were ejected during the speech.
Nor was Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., when he infamously shouted “You lie!” at President Barack Obama during a joint address to Congress in 2009. Wilson later apologized to Obama, who accepted the apology.
But Wilson was formally reprimanded by the House for his offense.
“I’ll accept the punishment,” Green said after his removal. “It’s worth it to let people know that there’s some of us who are going to stand up … against this president’s desire to cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.”
Green told NBC News after his removal that it “triggered something” in him when Trump spoke about receiving a “mandate” from his election in November.
“Because he doesn’t have a mandate, and he doesn’t have a mandate to cut health care from poor people,” Green said.
Asked if he had planned to heckle Trump, Green said, “I knew that I was, that I was a person of conscience, as am I, and I knew that the president has done things that I think we cannot allow to continue.”
“This whole budget that he has is one that is going to cause Medicaid to be cut,” the lawmaker said.
U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he delivers a speech to a joint session of Congress, in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 4, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
After Green was ejected, Trump took aim at the lawmaker’s fellow Democrats, who listened to him in silence.
“I look at the Democrats in front of me, and I realize there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud, nothing I can do,” Trump said.
“I could find a cure to the most devastating disease, a disease that would wipe out entire nations or announce the answers to the greatest economy in history or the stoppage of crime to the lowest levels ever recorded,” the president said.
“And these people sitting right here will not clap will not stand, and certainly will not cheer for these astronomical achievements.”