Rep. Young Apologizes For ‘Forcefully’ Grabbing Congressional Staffer

FILE - In this Oct. 20, 2011 file photo, Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska speaks in Anchorage, Alaska. On Friday, June 20, 2014, the House Ethics Committee announced that they have found that Young violated House rules by u... FILE - In this Oct. 20, 2011 file photo, Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska speaks in Anchorage, Alaska. On Friday, June 20, 2014, the House Ethics Committee announced that they have found that Young violated House rules by using campaign funds for personal trips and accepting improper gifts. The committee called on the Republican to repay the value of the trips and gifts, totaling about $59,000, to his campaign and the donors, and to amend his financial disclosure statements to include gifts he had not reported. The committee also issued a "letter of reproval," or rebuke. (AP Photo/Dan Joling, File) MORE LESS
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Rep. Don Young (R-AK) apologized Thursday for grabbing the arm of a congressional staffer outside a GOP meeting.

NBC News producer Frank Thorp V, who witnessed the confrontation, wrote on Twitter that a congressional staffer tried to direct Young to enter an in-progress GOP meeting through a side door. Young “forcefully grabbed” the staffer’s arm, then walked past him and through the front door into the meeting. The staffer “was holding his arm like it hurt,” Thorp wrote.

Thorp also posted a short video of the encounter:

Young said he was “caught off guard” by the staffer but acknowledged that his reaction wasn’t appropriate.

“While returning to the GOP conference meeting to discuss the ongoing situation on our southern border, I was caught off guard by an unidentified individual who was physically blocking me from reentering the room,” Young said in a statement, as quoted by Roll Call. “Regardless, my reaction was wrong and I should have never placed my hands on the young man.”

It wouldn’t be the first time Young brushed off directions. Earlier this month he barged through a police line to enter the U.S. Capitol, which had been closed off for an asbestos cleanup.

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