Activist and Code Pink (a pro-peace feminist organization) founder Medea Benjamin was simply walking the halls of Congress when she spotted Congressman Darrel Issa (R-CA). She asked him about Israel’s attack on Quatar, and his rude reply was” go away”. She followed him a few feet into his office to repeat her question, and he instructed his staff to “take her phone”. They called the Capitol police and Medea Benjamin was arrested for “impeding a congressman”. She now has a court date for October.
This arrest is absurd. Don’t our taxpayer dollars fund the Capitol building? Should we all have the right and opportunity to walk through the building, to stop and talk to our elected representatives, whose salaries we pay? Issa, whose brusque behavior was caught on video, was never “impeded”. The statute reads that anybody who “forcibly assaults, resists, opposes, impedes, intimidates or interferes with” certain government officials engaged in official duties shall be fined and imprisoned by up to a year. I saw the video. The only way Issa was “impeded” was by a question. She at no time put her hands on him, resisted him, or interfered with him. Arresting and charging her is overreach, designed to intimidate, to frighten people from going to places where we are fully entitled to be.
Medea’s arrest is not the first attempt to criminalize dissent in this era of lies and misinformation. When National Guard roam the streets of Washington, DC, randomly stopping, arresting, and deporting people, detaining Medea is business as usual in this repressive regime. Consider California Senator Alex Padilla (D), who entered a press conference to ask a question and was wrestled to the ground and handcuffed by federal agents. They claimed the attacked him to assure the safety of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. He was held for a brief period but received no apology. Instead, federal agents claimed Padilla did not identify himself as a US Senator. He says he did and, furthermore, he was in a federal building in California, the state he represents. Their physical attack on his was just another part of the Trump sideshow, designed to intimidate.
One of the most egregious efforts to criminalize dissent happened when Congresswoman Monica McIver (D-NJ) was indicted on two felonies and one misdemeanor for “assaulting, resisting, impeding, and interfering with federal law enforcement officers.” Having seen the video and been apprised of the circumstances, nothing could be further from the truth. McIver and other New Jersey elected officials were simply doing their jobs when they made an oversight visit to Delaney Hall. Federal officials attempted to arresting them trespassing, but they weren’t. Each felony court could get a sentence of eight years, and the misdemeanor could get a year. Congresswoman is scheduled to go to trial in November.
Meanwhile right-wing extremist Congressman Clay Higgins (R-LA) introduced a measure to censure Congresswoman McIver and remove her from the Homeland Security Committee. While Republicans have tended to vote lockstep, on September 3, 2025, the Higgins motion failed, 215-207. Five Republicans opposed the censure and two voted “present”. The effort intimidate Congresswoman MacIver failed.
While the vote to censure Congresswoman McIver failed in September, Congressman Al Green (D-TX) was censured because he interrupted the President’s address to a joint session of Congress in March, shaking his cane and shouting that the President had no mandate. The May vote, 224-198, had ten Democrats voting with Republicans. When the censure resolution was read, Congressman Green and several other Democrats sang, “We Shall Overcome” so long that House Speaker Mike Johnson had to call a recess. Green faces no fine or jail time for the censure, but his Congressional seat was one of those eliminated in the Texas redistricting.
This administration is committed to criminalizing dissent, and they have dozens of elected lackeys to following the instructions of their mob boss. Absent his influence, I doubt that either Madea Benjamin or Monica McIver would have been charged. The extremist law and order response to dissent is a hallmark of this administration, as is evidenced by the unleashing of the National Guard in many cities, including DC. And Congressman Green may have had a less severe punishment. Remember South Carolina Joe Wilson yelling “you lie” at President Obama. He eaned a resolution of disapproval (less serious than censure) from his colleagues.
The effort to criminalize dissent is an effort to silence us. But there ae resisters who will not be silenced, resisters who will not be moved. Thanks to Media Benjamin, Monica McIver, Al Green and all of those who understand that silence is complicity.
