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McCain Calls Protesters 'Low-Life Scum' At Senate Hearing

Protesters interrupt the start of a Senate Armed Services hearing on Capitol Hill Thursday, as former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger prepares to testify.
J. Scott Applewhite AP
Protesters interrupt the start of a Senate Armed Services hearing on Capitol Hill Thursday, as former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger prepares to testify.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., labeled as "low-life scum" anti-war protesters who chanted, "Arrest Henry Kissinger for war crimes."

Kissinger, 91, and other former secretaries of state in both Republican and Democratic administrations were at the Senate Armed Services Committee, which McCain chairs, for a hearing on global security challenges.

A small group of protesters held banners calling Kissinger a "war criminal" and urged his arrest for U.S. actions when he served in the Nixon administration in Chile, Vietnam, East Timor, Cambodia and Laos.

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McCain ordered Capitol police to remove the protesters.

"Get out of here, you low-life scum," he said.

You can watch what happened here.

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