Freshman Rep. Steve Knight (R.-Calif.) is in hot water over a video that shows him threatening a protester with violence on Friday.

In the video, the congressman — who spent 18 years as an officer with the LAPD — is seen talking with a conservative activist who questions Knight's vote on a funding bill, believing it grants amnesty to undocumented immigrants.

“You told me you didn’t vote for amnesty and you did. I looked it up on the Internet. You lied to me,” the man says, before patting the congressman on the shoulder. Knight, objecting to the unwanted contact, then steps toward the man and says, "Okay Mike, hey. If you touch me again, I'll drop your ass."

Reached through his spokesperson, Knight, who was sworn in just last January, said he "lost his cool" and regretted what was said.

“I have dealt with this group on several occasions and every time they try to escalate our conversations to a level that is not constructive," he said in a statement emailed to Mashable. "Over this past weekend, I lost my cool and I regret responding the way I did.”

The exchange is similar to one that occurred in January 2014 between now-former Congressman Michael Grimm and a reporter, with the representative telling NY1 political reporter Michael Scotto that he would throw him off a balcony and "break him in half, like a boy."

Grimm would later resign for unrelated reasons, though the quote followed him until the end of this time in Congress.

This post was updated at 7:35 p.m. ET with a statement from Rep. Knight.