WASHINGTON, Feb 24 - Democratic Representative Al Green was escorted from the House of Representatives chamber on Tuesday as President Trump began his State of the Union address, after the Texas lawmaker displayed a protest sign.
As the president entered the chamber, Green unfolded a white placard that read, according to the reporting, "Black people aren’t apes." The sign was a direct reference to a social media video posted earlier this month by President Trump that included a clip depicting former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes.
The White House subsequently removed the video from its social media feed, and President Trump said that a staffer had posted the material. The article does not provide additional details about the timing of the takedown or about any internal actions taken at the White House in response.
Green is no stranger to interrupting presidential remarks in the House chamber. He was the lawmaker who shouted at President Trump during last year’s address to Congress. The current incident occurred at the moment the president entered the chamber and prepared to speak, and House security personnel moved to escort Green out shortly after he held up the sign.
The report includes no further comment from Representative Green, other members of Congress, or White House officials beyond the acknowledgement that the social media clip was removed and the president's statement attributing the post to a staffer. No additional disruptions to the president’s address are described in the piece.
The account focuses on the sequence of events around the sign and the connection to the social media video, while noting Green’s prior interruption during the previous year’s address to Congress.
Related note: The text of an advertisement that appeared with the original reporting described investment research tools and services; that material is promotional in nature and is separate from the factual account of the events in the House chamber.