GOP lawmaker demands inquiry of Turkish leader’s bodyguards

WASHINGTON – A senior House Republican is calling on the Trump administration to investigate whether criminal charges are warranted against members of the Turkish president’s security detail.

Rep. Ed Royce of California says bodyguards travelling with Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his official state visit to Washington “viciously beat multiple individuals, throwing them to the ground and kicking them in the head.”

Royce, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, detailed his request for an inquiry in a letter sent Wednesday to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

The State Department has criticized the Turkish government over violence outside its embassy, where Erdogan’s security staff broke up an anti-government protest. The protesters were chanting anti-Erdogan slogans as he entered the embassy on Tuesday after meeting with President Donald Trump.