EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Jim Risch working with Capitol Police to arrest liberal protesters

THE LOWDOWN:

• Sen. Jim Risch (R., Idaho) recently wrote a “barring notice” to the Capitol Police, requesting that they work with him and his Senate Foreign Relations Committee to ban protesters who disrupt official Senate proceedings.

• Under the policy, they list the person’s name and other information and they are barred from the hearing room for a full year following their disturbance.

• Protesters from Code Pink, an anti-American organization with close financial ties to the Chinese Communist Party, have repeatedly disrupted Senate hearings during this Congress.

• Now, Risch announces the policy at the start of every hearing he chairs.

Sen. Jim Risch (R., Idaho), is taking action against liberal protesters who have been disrupting hearings for President Donald Trump’s appointees, the Washington Reporter can reveal.

Risch recently wrote a “barring notice” to the Capitol Police, requesting that they work with him and his Senate Foreign Relations Committee to ban protesters who disrupt official Senate proceedings.

Under the policy, they list the person’s name and other information and they are barred from the hearing room for a full year following their disturbance.

“The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has important work to do, and no time to waste as we work to ensure that President Trump’s national security team gets into place,” Risch told the Reporter. “Members of the public are invited to our hearing room to observe our work, but disrespectful disruptions will no longer be accommodated.”

“To date, about ten obstructionists have been removed from the hearing room, arrested, and banned for a year,” Risch’s office told the Reporter; Risch is the first chairman to implement a policy like this during this Congress.

“Risch asked to work with the police on this policy so it would actually have teeth,” a Senate GOP source added. The senator’s policy started during the first hearing of the year for his committee, that of then-Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) for Secretary of State.

“It’s fair to say it’s believed that all arrests have been affiliated with Code Pink, which takes money from Russia, China and Iran,” a Senate source told the Reporter.

Risch may have another opportunity to implement his barring notice with the upcoming confirmation hearing of David Perdue to be Ambassador to China. Protesters from Code Pink, an anti-American organization with close financial ties to the Chinese Communist Party, have repeatedly disrupted Senate hearings during this Congress.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) expelled several Code Pink activists from an earlier threat assessment hearing, the Reporter previously exclusively confirmed.

While Democrats controlled the Senate, they “let the protesters interrupt the committee without consequences and left decisions on arrests up to the Capitol Police,” a Senate source added.

Now, Risch announces the policy at the start of every hearing he chairs.