Protester carried away by police during Mnuchin speech at UCLA

An audience member was forcibly removed by police after disrupting a Monday speech by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin at the University of California, Los Angeles, as shown in recently released video. 

As Mnuchin was discussing the Republican-backed tax reform passed late last year, a woman in the crowd yelled that the Trump administration is punishing “black and brown people in the inner cities.” 

As the first woman was picked up and forcibly removed by police officers, another attendee yelled “This tax bill is going after people who are vulnerable. This is politics of cruelty. This is politics of fascism.” 

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Five people were arrested by the university’s police department “before and after the treasury secretary’s talk,” Peggy McInerny, director of communications for UCLA’s International Institute, said in a statement to The Hill. 

“All were cited and released. Only one was a UCLA student. It is up to the city attorney whether or not to bring charges,” McInerny said. 

“Secretary Mnuchin has participated as a guest in previous events held by the UCLA Burkle Center and welcomed the chance to speak and discuss important economic issues,” a Treasury Department spokeswoman said in a Friday statement to The Hill. “The event was open to the media and a transcript was published. He believes healthy debate is critical to ensuring the right policies that do the most good are advanced.”

The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Mnuchin had retracted previously granted permission for the school to post recordings of his address.

During his speech, Mnuchin said he feels “an obligation” to help people in the middle class, according to transcript from Marketplace.org. 

—Updated at 3:37 p.m.