‘He Has Failed Us’: Air Force Major Risks Career Demanding Trump’s Impeachment
An active-duty U.S. Air Force major who was arrested in uniform on the steps of the Capitol last month has broken his silence, delivering a searing critique of President Donald Trump and calling for his impeachment and removal from office.
In his first television interview since the July 1 incident, Maj. Jason Watson told CNN’s Erin Burnett on “OutFront” that the president “has failed us.” Watson, who faces a potential court-martial and the possible end of his military career, said Trump is “flagrantly violating the Constitution, breaking the law, engaging in rampant corruption, and killing Americans.”
“And that is unacceptable to me. And it should be unacceptable to all of us,” Watson said. “I feel like, unfortunately, many of us have gotten used to this, and we’ve normalized this conduct, and we think that there’s nothing that we can do about it.”
Watson said he hopes his actions will inspire ordinary Americans. “I want to just inspire people and bring the conversation to impeach, convict, remove,” he told Burnett. “I believe we can defeat this government if we just take a stand.”
The interview marks a rare public appearance by an active-duty officer willing to risk severe professional consequences to criticize the commander-in-chief. Military rules strictly limit political activity by service members, especially while in uniform, and Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice specifically prohibits officers from using contemptuous words against the president or vice president.
On July 1, Watson appeared at a news conference organized by the Removal Coalition, an activist group pushing for Trump’s impeachment. He was joined by Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), one of the few members of Congress who has repeatedly sought to force votes on articles of impeachment. After speaking, Watson was escorted by Green to the House steps, where he stood alone holding a sign that read “Impeach Convict Remove.” When Green left the area, Capitol Police ordered Watson to leave. He refused and was arrested for crowding, obstructing, and incommoding. Local prosecutors later declined to pursue charges.
In a lengthy speech before the arrest, Watson identified himself as an active-duty major but downplayed his own importance. “Who I am is immaterial. In the grand scheme of things, I’m just a nobody,” he said. “What matters far more than who I am is what I have to say and the price I’m willing to pay to say it.”
He then recited the military officer’s oath of office, which he first took more than 20 years earlier upon entering the U.S. Air Force Academy in 2005. Watson has spent much of his 17-year career as a logistics readiness officer, including assignments in Europe and work with NATO. At the time of the protest he was on leave from a post in Bydgoszcz, Poland. An Air Force spokesperson confirmed he has received more than a dozen medals and decorations during his service.
Watson framed his actions as a defense of the Constitution rather than a partisan attack. He emphasized that he is not a Democrat and knows little about Green’s policy positions. He stood with the congressman, he said, solely because Green had shown the “courage and conviction” to force votes on impeachment.
The core of Watson’s argument centered on what he described as unconstitutional military actions. He accused the administration of ordering operations against Venezuela, Cuba, and Iran without an imminent threat to American interests or congressional authorization, calling it “an unconstitutional usurpation of Congress’s authority and a violation of the War Powers Clause.” Those actions, he said, resulted in the deaths of 13 U.S. service members and injuries to hundreds more. “For this, the president and vice president must be impeached, convicted, and removed,” Watson repeated throughout his remarks.
He also criticized the granting of sweeping authority to an unelected private citizen—widely understood as a reference to Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency—to shut down large portions of the federal government and gain unrestricted access to government databases. Watson argued this violated the Appointments Clause and Congress’s power of the purse, leading to the termination of tens of thousands of federal employees, exposure of sensitive data, and the abrupt cutoff of foreign aid that he claimed contributed to hundreds of thousands of deaths among the world’s poorest people.
Additional grievances included the alleged denial of due process to people detained and sent to a foreign prison in El Salvador known for human rights abuses, and what Watson described as the sponsorship of violence against Americans exercising First Amendment rights to protest. He cited specific incidents involving immigration enforcement officers, including a legal observer who lost an eye and fatal shootings. He also listed broader claims involving the weaponization of the Justice Department, attempts to overturn birthright citizenship by executive order, and other actions he characterized as high crimes and misdemeanors.
“For the past 18 months, we the people have allowed the highest levels of the executive branch of the federal government to violate our Constitution and their oath to it with impunity,” Watson said. The greatest threat to the republic, he argued, is not foreign but domestic—ordinary citizens who have grown passive.
After the arrest, the Air Force opened an investigation. Watson was restricted to Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, D.C., and initially placed under a gag order. His attorney has said the service is examining potential violations of several UCMJ articles, including contempt toward officials, failure to obey regulations against political activity in uniform, conduct unbecoming an officer, and conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline. No formal charges have been preferred, but a conviction could lead to dismissal from the service, forfeiture of pay and benefits, and possible confinement. Watson, a father of two nearing retirement eligibility, has indicated he is prepared for a court-martial.
Air Force Secretary Troy Meink responded to the incident by stressing the importance of the military’s nonpartisan character. “The Department takes allegations of misconduct seriously, including any that might undermine the nonpartisan nature of our military,” his office stated. The investigation, officials said, would proceed unimpeded under military law and due process.
Watson’s decision has drawn attention precisely because active-duty officers almost never take such a public political stand. Critics of the protest argue that wearing the uniform while calling for the removal of the elected commander-in-chief undermines civilian control of the military and the apolitical tradition of the armed forces. Supporters view it as a rare act of conscience by someone willing to sacrifice his career to uphold the oath he took.
In the CNN interview, Watson returned to the same theme that defined his Capitol speech. He does not claim special status. He presents himself as an ordinary officer who decided the cost of silence had become higher than the cost of speaking. “Nothing that is worth doing is something that you can do for free,” he has said. “We can change what is happening in our country if we’re just willing to pay a price for it.”
Whether his protest produces any political effect remains uncertain. Calls for impeachment have been a recurring feature of recent American politics, and Congress has so far shown little appetite for the process. What is clear is that one major in the United States Air Force has chosen to stake his career on the belief that the Constitution still demands accountability—even, or especially, from those at the highest levels of power.
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