Throw out Turkish envoy for violent act: McCain

WASHINGTON — Top congressional Republicans are demanding the Trump administration take swift and severe action against the Turkish government in response to violence involving members of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s security detail, with one saying the U.S. “should throw their ambassador the hell out of the United States of America.”

Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, expressed outrage Thursday at video that appears to show Erdogan’s bodyguards violently breaking up a protest this week outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence in Washington.

“We should throw their ambassador the hell out of the United States of America,” McCain said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

McCain said “this kind of thing cannot go unresponded to diplomatically.” He suggested that lawsuits should be filed if the responsible bodyguards can be identified.

McCain and Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, told Erdogan in a letter they sent Thursday that the “actions of your staff violate the constitutional protections of freedom of the press and freedom of assembly enjoyed by all Americans.”

A congressional aide said two members of Erdogan’s security detail were detained by diplomatic security agents.

The State Department said that “violence is never an appropriate response to free speech, and we support the rights of people everywhere to free expression and peaceful protest.”

But the guards quickly claimed diplomatic immunity, and were released after diplomatic security consulted with counsel. The aide was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The incident occurred after Erdogan arrived after a White House meeting with President Donald Trump.

Video shows people pushing past police to confront a group of protesters across the street in Sheridan Circle.

Attacking the small group of protesters with their fists and feet, men in dark suits and others were recorded repeatedly kicking one woman as she lay curled on a sidewalk. Another person wrenches a woman’s neck and throws her to the ground. A man with a bullhorn is repeatedly kicked in the face.

In all, nine people were hurt.