Washington — Lawmakers are calling for answers after Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla was forcibly removed from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s news conference in Los Angeles on Thursday.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, expressed shock over “the manhandling of a United States senator,” adding that he wants answers “to what the hell went on.”
Padilla stood up and walked to the front of the room while Noem was speaking and introduced himself before trying to ask her a question. Federal agents shoved him out of the room, placed him on the ground and put him in handcuffs. His office said he was briefly detained before being released. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said Secret Service agents “thought he was an attacker and officers acted appropriately.”
Noem told reporters that she and Padilla met after her press conference and had a “very productive” conversation.
“I wished that he would have reached out and identified himself and let us know who he was and that he wanted to talk,” Noem said. “His approach, you know, was something that I don’t think was appropriate at all. But the conversation was great and we’re going to continue to communicate. We exchanged phone numbers and we’re going to continue to talk on we can communicate better.”
PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images
Nonetheless, Sen. Adam Schiff, Padilla’s fellow California senator, called on Noem to resign and said there should be an investigation into law enforcement’s conduct.
“It’s just outrageous and disgraceful and sickening to watch,” he said. “In the video, he’s identifying himself as Sen. Alex Padilla, so I have no doubt that they understood exactly who he was, and that makes it all the more troubling.”
Schiff added that Padilla has “every right to ask questions” and “to be treated the way he was, to be essentially brought to the ground and shackled after identifying himself, is a disgraceful action.”
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Nevada Democrat, likewise called on Noem to resign.
“Secretary Noem, you should resign,” Cortez Masto said in a post on X. “You’re head of Homeland Security and you can’t take a question from a sitting U.S. Senator at a press conference? This level of abuse of power is shameful, outrageous, and is not doing anything to keep our homeland safe.”
Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, brought up the incident during a House committee hearing on immigration, saying he was “horrified” and asking the Democratic governors before him, “tell me how you would feel if Marines were sent into your state or your senators were taken by the fists and pushed out of rooms?”
“What is going on in this country?” Khanna added.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom also shared an image of Padilla on X, saying, “If they can handcuff a U.S. Senator for asking a question, imagine what they will do to you.”
The outrage wasn’t only among Democrats. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, told reporters she had seen a clip of the incident, calling it “horrible.”
“It is shocking at every level. It’s not the America I know,” she said.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, told reporters that he had seen video of Padilla’s removal but wanted more information before commenting further on the matter.
“Obviously we will have a response, but I want to get the facts and find out exactly what happened before we make any comments,” Thune said.
contributed to this report.
Leave a Reply