By Sarah Ferris, Manu Raju and Annie Grayer, CNN
(CNN) — President Donald Trump made it about four minutes into his first speech to Congress before a Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Al Green, began shouting that he should be impeached.
Green, a 77-year-old Texan who carries a cane and is known inside the US Capitol for his ardent anti-Trump bent, was removed from the House chamber.
Speaker Mike Johnson, who sat behind Trump, gave a verbal warning to Green, who earlier this year went to the floor of the same chamber to introduce articles of impeachment against Trump. The speaker ultimately broke into the president’s speech and summoned Capitol officials to remove the 11-term member from his seat.
But it’s not just Green who has sought ways to channel his party’s intense frustration at Trump during Tuesday night’s speech. Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico held a sign as Trump walked in that read “This is not normal” — which a GOP lawmaker ripped out of her hands. Stansbury later joined a group of other progressives.
“There’s only so much bullshit a person can tolerate,” Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, a freshman Democrat, posted on X after she walked out of the chamber.
And in a highly unusual move, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries instructed his members to use restraint in their applause of Trump, according to two members familiar with the matter.
It’s a powerful moment for Jeffries and congressional Democrats as the party attempts to determine how to handle Trump’s role in the annual tradition — with the usual pomp and circumstance in the Capitol — at a time when he is routinely flouting congressional authority.
Jeffries and his leadership team had a highly scripted plan for how the party’s reaction would go. Party leaders urged rank-and-file members to show restraint and not mount a high-profile protest. Members were told no signs, no props and no attention-grabbing stunts that could be seized upon by the GOP.
But the actions by Democrats like Green, Stansbury and others defied leadership’s calls in a dramatic way. Two senior aides said they could not recall another example of a member being removed from a presidential address.
Some Democrats in attendance coordinated their outfits in protests — pink for women, black for Black Caucus members — while others decided not to go at all amid intense pressure to channel the anger from the party’s base. Even veteran Democrats, like Sens. Patty Murray and Chris Murphy, opted to boycott the address.
Rep. Don Beyer, a veteran Democrat from northern Virginia, said he decided not to attend the speech as Trump’s downsizing of the federal government has laid off hundreds of workers in his district.
“I naturally respect traditions. I love my country. I’m one of those people who obeys his parents. But in this particular case, he has already destroyed the tradition,” Beyer told CNN just ahead of the speech. “I don’t want to legitimize what he has done. For the people I represent, for them to see me in there, sitting there on my hands for a one or two hour speech would be incredibly frustrating.”
CNN’s Lauren Fox contributed to this report.
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