Rep. Keith Ellison (D., Minn.) hosted a health care press conference on Wednesday, which resulted in him kicking out a heckler who appeared to be a left-wing supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.).
Ellison, the deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee, was speaking at the North Point Wellness Center in north Minneapolis about the effects of the Republican health care bill when the heckler began talking about the importance of reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act.
"It's gone on for 10 years," he said. " I think you know and understand that we need to reinstate Glass-Steagall. The problem is Wall Street. They have robbed and ruined this nation. We have not recovered since 2007."
Ellison tried interrupting him several times to get the conversation back on health care.
"By a show of hands, who would like to go on with the press conference?" Ellison asked the people in the room, prompting almost everyone in the room to raise their hands and then clap.
"Why didn't the Democrats pass the single-payer program? Why did they kick Bernie Sanders out of the base? Because he was talking about single-payer and Glass-Steagall. Now you guys want to go on and on about the Republicans. Democrats are as much to blame ... at least the leadership," the heckler said.
Ellison became visibly angry and asked someone in the room to get security to kick him out of the event.
"Can somebody call security? He wants to be pulled out of here, so let's accommodate him. I mean that's what you want because you won't let us continue on, right?" Ellison said.
The heckler asked Ellison why he did not want to reinstate Glass-Steagall and then asked him whether House Minority Leader Pelosi (D., Calif.) was behind the decision. He then mentioned how Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) would not support the reinstatement because he "works for Wall Street."
He was then removed from the event shortly afterwards by the board chair.
"Democracy is hard. We live in a free society and anybody can say what they want to say, but they have to at least allow other people to have their say then they can have their say. Does that make sense to everybody? Nobody is trying to stop him from talking," Ellison said.