President Trump got barely two minutes into his speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night before Representative Al Green, Democrat of Texas, stood to protest, disrupting the proceedings in a display that ultimately got him thrown out of the House chamber.
As Mr. Trump extolled his own accomplishments during his first weeks in office and boasted about his electoral success in November, Mr. Green, 78, rose from his seat, shook his cane and began to shout.
“You have no mandate to cut Medicaid!” yelled Mr. Green, who often creates headaches for Democrats by deviating from party orders.
Almost instantly, he was drowned out by chants from angry Republican colleagues: “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” they shouted and clapped, which gave way to shouts of “Sit down!”
Twice, Speaker Mike Johnson interrupted the president’s address, tapped his gavel and warned Mr. Green that if he did not sit down, he would be removed from the chamber.
“Mr. Green, take your seat, sir,” Mr. Johnson said, as Mr. Green stood defiantly, refusing.
Behind Mr. Trump, Vice President JD Vance made a gesture with his thumb indicating “throw him out,” as members jeered. Soon, Mr. Johnson read from a sheet of paper in front of him, making it official.
“Finding that members continue to engage in willful and concerted disruption of proper decorum, the chair now directs the Sergeant-at-arms to restore order,” Mr. Johnson said, prompting raucous applause from Republicans. “Remove this gentleman from the chamber!” he declared, banging his gavel.
Mr. Green’s disruption wasn’t the first time an opposition lawmaker has interrupted a president’s address to Congress. Republican Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Lauren Boebert of Colorado repeatedly interjected during former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s State of the Union speech in 2022, shouting out phrases such as “build that wall” when he talked about securing the southern border. Neither of them were ejected from the chamber.
And Representative Joe Wilson, Republican of South Carolina, famously shouted, “You lie!” at former President Barack Obama during a 2009 speech to Congress when the president said the Affordable Care Act wouldn’t cover undocumented immigrants.
In Mr. Green’s case, he was not only challenging the president but also defying the entreaties of Democratic congressional leaders that members attend Mr. Trump’s speech and refrain from disruptions. The spectacle of a septuagenarian heckling the president while waving his cane was not ideal for Democrats, who have toiled to land on a broadly appealing message and messenger for countering Mr. Trump.
Still, after being kicked out, Mr. Green told reporters at the Capitol that his protest was “worth it to let people know that there are some people who are going to stand up” to the president.
Mr. Green is known on Capitol Hill in part for repeatedly defying his party’s leaders to push for the impeachment of Mr. Trump during his first term, long before his fellow Democrats had decided to do so. He did so three times, beginning during Mr. Trump’s first year in office, and failed each time.
But while Mr. Green is often a source of frustration for his party, he also saved Democrats in one instance last year, when he showed up on the House floor in hospital garb to tank the first Republican attempt to impeach the homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas.
Tyler Pager, Robert Jimison and Annie Karni contributed reporting.
