Jake Burdett is a self-professed far-lefty who apparently likes rabble-rousing. Pronouns in his Twitter profile, of course: “progressive activist, Social Democrat/Democratic Socialist. Affordable Housing Advocate. YIMBY Hater. U. Balt. Law Student. He/Him.”
On Tuesday, he tried to interrupt multiple Republicans at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington regarding the World Health Organization.
After being given the opportunity to stick around by Louisiana Rep. Clay Higgins — a former police officer — Burdett was shocked that 1) Higgins forcibly removed him from an event that he only intended to troll and 2) he was the one being detained.
Sounds about right.
“I am currently being detained by DC Police for asking tough questions to far right extremist Congressmen @RepGosar and @laurenboebert at a press conference. Rep Clay Higgins proceeded to assault/physically remove me from the press conference. For this, the cops detained me, not him,” Burdett said in a tweet Wednesday after the encounter.
According to The Hill, Burdett was visiting Capitol Hill with the Maryland Progressive Healthcare Coalition to support the reintroduction of the moribund Medicare for All Act.
Kristy Fogle, founder of the coalition, told the outlet that Burdett said he wanted to ask Boebert a “tough question” after they happened upon the news briefing.
Video posted by the protester himself shows him first approaching Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar, whom he asked about appearing at a conference hosted by far-right fringe figure Nick Fuentes and about an ad released during the 2020 election cycle in which members of Gosar’s family came out against him. Not that he wanted the answer to either of these questions; merely smearing the congressman was enough for him.
During the video, Higgins approached Burdett and said, “I’m a congressman. I’ll make you a deal. Listen, let this man talk, and then I’ll come talk to you privately.”
“All I’m asking you to do is just peacefully stand by with your camera, and I promise you — look at me — I’ll come talk to you straight up and answer all your questions.”
Suffice it to say, that’s not what happened.
Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado got up next; Burdett, seemingly undeterred, again stepped forward and asked Boebert about her recent filing for divorce.
“Did it have anything to do with giving food poisoning to Shooters Bar and Grill?” he said, referencing a 2020 incident in which pork sliders from Boebert’s restaurant were involved in a food-poisoning incident at a local rodeo, according to Salon.
Boy, what a “tough question” that was.
At that point, Higgins, a former sheriff, stepped in and sidelined what was clearly an unbalanced troll act.
“You’re out, you’re out,” he can be heard saying in the video:
I am currently being detained by DC Police for asking tough questions to far right extremist Congressmen @RepGosar and @laurenboebert at a press conference. Rep Clay Higgins proceeded to assault/physically remove me from the press conference.For this, the cops detained me,not him pic.twitter.com/iX4yjCGKsZ
— Jake Burdett (@jake_burdett) May 17, 2023
“Get off me, get off me, Clay Higgins. Get off me. What are you trying to do, Clay Higgins? … You’re manhandling me. Get off me,” Burdett said.
This is what it looked like from a third-party angle:
Congressman Clay Higgins deals with commie agitator.
Higgins a former sheriff.
This is outstanding work, congressman.pic.twitter.com/VGn2GxxVaG
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) May 18, 2023
And here’s how it looked in the live feed of the event:
[embedded content]
Thankfully, no one appears to have been hurt in the incident.
On Twitter, Boebert thanked Higgins for defending her “as a radical socialist attempted to disrupt me during a press conference.”
Yesterday, @RepClayHiggins defended me as a radical socialist attempted to disrupt me during a press conference.
Thank you, Clay! pic.twitter.com/5Q9gIhIqXr
— Rep. Lauren Boebert (@RepBoebert) May 18, 2023
Also on Twitter, Higgins said that Burdett was “a 103M” — police code for “disturbance by a mental person.”
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
“One agitator activist protestor became very disruptive and threatening in violation of the law,” the text in the accompanying video said. “Congressman Higgins successfully de-escalated the situation.”
Higgons said he turned Burdett over to the Capitol Police, and Fogle said they interviewed the activist. Meanwhile, Burdett claimed to have been detained by “DC police” — which would generally refer to a different body, the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department. It’s unknown which of these is true.
A statement from Capitol Police merely said, “We are aware of this situation, interviewing the people who were involved, and reviewing the available video.”
Should the leftist be charged for this stunt?
Yes: 92% (11 Votes)
No: 8% (1 Votes)
What’s amazing is that the same group of people on the left who want to pretend that their lives are in grave danger if we highlight their foibles and flaws are going to see nothing wrong with this, if just because the protester is one of them.
In fact, they’re going to be the ones blaming Clay Higgins for de-escalating the situation, siding with Burdett on this being improper use of force.
The truth is that Higgins had no idea how well-hinged Burdett was; from all apparent evidence, he certainly didn’t seem to be in compos mentis.
Remember this the next time New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez talks about the extreme danger she’s in and the fact she’s not going to be sticking her neck out for Republicans the same way Clay Higgins did for his fellow representative.
