Air Force major demands Trump be impeached, is arrested
Air Force Major Jason Watson at U.S. Capitol, July 1, 2026, before he was arrested by Capitol Police.
U.S. Air Force Major Jason Watson has been arrested by Capitol Police and is under investigation by the military after holding a press conference on July 1 on the U.S. Capitol steps denouncing the Trump administration and calling for the impeachment, conviction and removal from office of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
The press conference was attended by U.S. Rep. Al Green, an 11-term Democrat from Texas who is an African American. Green will be leaving Congress at the end of 2026 as his congressional district was recently eliminated when the Texas state Legislature gerrymandered the congressional districts, a move that reduces the likely number of Democratic and also non-white representatives, a racist maneuver.
Major Watson is a U.S. Air Force Academy graduate and has been on active duty for over 17 years. For full impact and symbolism, he wore his Class A blue uniform with all his awards and decorations at the press conference. He was most recently stationed at the NATO Joint Force Training Center in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Watson attacked the Trump administration for both its foreign and domestic policies. In addition to illegal wars, he described the prison-like immigrant detention centers, the suing of media organizations and colleges, the role of mega-donors, the trading of pardons for donations, the weaponizing of the Department of Justice and the attempt to reverse birthright citizenship.
After the press conference, he walked away from the gathering and stood alone on the steps of the Capitol holding a sign that read “Impeach-Convict-Remove.” Watson was then arrested for demonstrating without a member of Congress present. He was held overnight at the D.C. Central Cell Block.
After a court appearance where charges were dropped, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations took Watson into custody. He is currently at a Level I confinement facility at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, located in Southwest Washington, D.C., and he is under a gag order.
That the Air Force is preventing Watson from speaking is reason enough to reproduce some of his July 1 statement here: “When the President of the United States orders military action against foreign countries … as was done with Venezuela, Cuba and Iran — that is an unconstitutional usurpation of Congress’s authority and a violation of the War Powers Clause. …
“When the President of the United States directs the Department of Homeland Security to deny hundreds of people due process before illegally detaining them and sending them to a foreign prison notorious for human rights abuses, that is a violation of our Fifth and Eighth Amendment rights. Most people sent to CECOT [a high-security prison in El Salvador, where the U.S.sends migrants] never committed any violent crimes in their lives but are being defamed as violent criminals as a pretext for the torture they suffer in El Salvador, paid for with U.S. taxpayer dollars.
Watson stressed, “For this, the President and Vice President must be impeached, convicted and removed.”
Major Watson’s statement shows that he believes in the Constitution, the oath of office, democracy and more. His full statement, which can be found at freespeechforpeople.org, says so. He has put his pension at risk, as well as facing possible incarceration while he now navigates the intricacies of the military criminal justice system.
Many people, including this writer, agree that we cannot let Watson disappear into the system and will support his right to speak out — in or out of uniform.
Kramer is a member of Veterans For Peace Chapter 021 (Northern New Jersey) and served in the Israeli military (1972-75).
