She “stood up silently during the president’s speech… For that, she was forcibly removed,” Ilhan Omar says after her guest is arrested during Trump’s speech
WASHINGTON — A guest of Rep. Ilhan Omar was removed from the House gallery during President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address and cited on an “unlawful conduct” charge after what Capitol Police described as prohibited “demonstrating” inside the chamber.
Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, said in a statement Wednesday that her guest, Aliya Rahman, “stood up silently in the gallery” for a short period during the president’s remarks and was “forcibly removed” despite warning officers that she had injured shoulders. Omar said Rahman was taken to George Washington University Hospital and later booked at U.S. Capitol Police headquarters, and she called for a full explanation of the arrest.
Capitol Police, however, said Rahman was arrested after she refused orders to sit down. In a statement carried by Newsweek, police said “all State of the Union tickets clearly explain that demonstrating is prohibited,” and that at about 10:07 p.m. a person in the House gallery “started demonstrating” during the address. Police said the guest was told to sit down but “refused to obey our lawful orders.”
The statement said the guest — identified as 43-year-old Aliya M. Rahman of Minneapolis — was arrested under D.C. Code §10-503.16, “Unlawful Conduct, Disruption of Congress,” and was issued a citation release, which police described as routine. A similar account was reported in a live update by The Guardian, which cited a statement attributed to Capitol Police.
Rahman’s attorney disputed that the conduct was disruptive. Alexa Van Brunt, identified by Newsweek as Rahman’s lawyer and the director of the MacArthur Justice Center, said Rahman was taken into custody after “standing up in silence,” and said she was released shortly before 4 a.m.
The arrest added to an already heated political night in the House chamber. Rahman has drawn national attention in recent weeks after a widely circulated incident in Minnesota in which she said she was pulled from her car and detained by federal immigration officers while traveling to a medical appointment. Newsweek reported that Capitol Police described Rahman as a disabled U.S. citizen and noted that Omar’s office had previously highlighted Rahman’s experience as part of its critique of immigration enforcement operations in the Twin Cities area.
Omar’s office did not provide additional details Wednesday about what prompted Rahman to stand or what officers told her before she was removed, but Omar said “reports indicate she was aggressively handled until someone intervened to secure medical attention.” Capitol Police did not address the medical claims in the statement carried by Newsweek.
The dispute centers on differing characterizations of the same moment: Omar and Rahman’s attorney describe a brief, silent protest, while police describe an unlawful demonstration inside a restricted venue with clear rules against protesting during the address.
