Air Force Maj. Jason Watson, who repeatedly took to the Capitol steps in uniform to call for President Trump's removal, has been hit with 10 criminal charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and sits in pretrial confinement awaiting his day in court.
The Air Force referred three charges under Article 88 for "contemptuous" remarks about the president, five charges under Article 92 for disobeying orders, and two charges under Article 133 for conduct unbecoming an officer, The Hill reported Monday. Watson remains locked up pending trial. An Air Force spokesperson confirmed the charges and said Watson would stay in pretrial confinement.
The case marks a rare invocation of Article 88, which bars commissioned officers from directing "contemptuous" language at the president, vice president, members of Congress, and other senior officials. Prosecutors face a high bar: they must prove Watson's words were explicitly insulting, rude, or disdainful, not merely critical. But the sheer volume of charges, 10 in all, suggests the Air Force believes Watson's conduct went well beyond a single intemperate remark.
Watson's confrontation with military authority unfolded over several weeks. In early July, he stood on the Capitol steps and delivered remarks to bystanders calling for the president's impeachment and removal. His argument, sourced through a Bluesky post, centered on military operations abroad.
"When the president of the United States orders military action against foreign countries, absent an emergency scenario where American interests are under imminent dire threats, as was done with Venezuela, Cuba and Iran, that's an unconstitutional usurpation of Congress's authority and a violation of the War Powers Clause."
Watson went further, claiming those operations caused the deaths of 13 service members and injuries to hundreds more. Neither figure has been independently corroborated in available reporting.
"These violations resulted in the deaths of 13 service members and injuries of hundreds more. For this, the president and vice president must be impeached, convicted and removed."
Those are extraordinary words from an active-duty officer. Military regulations flatly prohibit service members from participating in protests, marches, or political demonstrations while in uniform. Off-duty personnel may attend peaceful protests as spectators in civilian clothes, but only if they do not tie their views to their military status. Watson, by all accounts, did the opposite.
Watson's second trip to the Capitol steps came with a political escort. Rep. Al Green, a Texas Democrat, accompanied Watson to protest on Capitol grounds. Under current rules, a protester must be accompanied by a sitting lawmaker to speak openly on the Capitol steps. Green's presence gave Watson temporary cover.
It did not last. Green left the site, and Watson was swiftly arrested. The episode drew national media attention, and Watson used the spotlight. During the same period, he sat for an interview with CNN's Erin Burnett and again called for the president's impeachment.
He also informed his chain of command that he would "no longer be wearing his uniform." Days later, he was arrested a second time in connection with his early July protest and ordered into pretrial confinement, where he remains.
Green, for his part, filed his own impeachment articles against President Trump on Monday, the same day the Air Force referred criminal charges against the officer he had personally escorted to the Capitol. Green had already earned national attention for protesting against Trump during a joint session of Congress, which resulted in his removal from the chamber.
The Air Force spokesperson's statement was measured but firm. Watson would remain in confinement. He would receive due process. He would be considered innocent until proven guilty.
But the spokesperson also made clear the Air Force would not discuss evidence publicly, citing the integrity of the judicial process and the rights of the accused.
The breadth of the charges tells its own story. Three Article 88 counts suggest prosecutors identified at least three distinct instances of contemptuous speech. Five Article 92 counts, for disobeying orders, indicate Watson was told to stop and kept going. Two conduct-unbecoming charges round out a portrait of an officer who, by the Air Force's account, systematically defied the rules governing every commissioned officer in the United States military.
Several questions remain unanswered. The Air Force has not identified which specific orders Watson allegedly violated, nor has it detailed the conduct underlying the Article 133 charges. Watson's location of confinement has not been disclosed. And neither Watson nor any legal representative has issued a public response to the charges.
Watson's case sits at the intersection of military discipline and political theater. An active-duty officer, in uniform, stood on the Capitol steps and demanded the commander in chief's removal, not once, but repeatedly. A sitting congressman helped him do it. A cable news network gave him a platform. And when the officer told his superiors he was finished following orders, the system finally acted.
The pattern is not unique to the military. Across the country, institutions that fail to enforce their own standards invite escalation. In Prince George's County, Maryland, a judge recently ordered roughly 100 condo units evacuated after a nearby homeless encampment vandalized the building's boiler room and left residents without heat since November. The county had been delivering food to the encampment even as it destroyed conditions for the legal residents paying to live there. One resident, Jason Van Horne, whose unit lost heat and electricity and recently flooded, told the Washington Free Beacon: "They've been living better than us."
Different settings, same failure. When authorities look the other way, whether on a military officer defying the chain of command or a county enabling an encampment that ruins its neighbors' homes, the people who follow the rules pay the price.
Watson will get his day in court. The UCMJ guarantees it. But the Air Force took weeks and two arrests before it acted, and a Democratic congressman actively helped an officer undermine military discipline for political purposes. The charges are welcome. The question is why it took this long.
