US Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla was forcefully removed from a press conference in Los Angeles Thursday and coerced to the ground after attempting to ask Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem a question.<\/p>\n
Padilla, California\u2019s\u00a0first Latino elected\u00a0to the US Senate, interrupted Noem as she was giving remarks in the Los Angeles FBI headquarters on the administration\u2019s response to the protests in that city against Noem\u2019s agency and its immigration-enforcement efforts. The senator had been in the federal building for a separate briefing when he learned of the press conference.<\/p>\n
Padilla was removed from the room, ordered to the ground by law enforcement and placed in handcuffs during the rapidly unfolding incident.<\/p>\n
The incident comes amid a heightened atmosphere in Los Angeles, which has been roiled with protests against President Donald Trump\u2019s federal immigration raids. While the senator was ultimately not arrested, his ejection from the room by law enforcement follows the arrests of other public officials, who the administration has accused of impeding its enforcement of immigration laws.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was there peacefully,\u201d Padilla said in his first public remarks shortly following the incident. \u201cAt one point I had a question, and so I began to ask a question. I was almost immediately forcibly removed from the room. I was forced to the ground, and I was handcuffed. I was not arrested. I was not detained.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cIf this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question, if this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question, you can only imagine, what they\u2019re doing to farm workers, to cooks, to day laborers out in the Los Angeles community and throughout California and throughout the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Noem said the US Secret Service \u201cthought he was an attacker and officers acted appropriately.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish that he would have reached out and identified himself and let us know who he was and that he wanted to talk. His approach was something that I don\u2019t think was appropriate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Video of the incident shows the senator identifying himself as officers grabbed him and pushed him toward a door.<\/p>\n
The pair, Noem said, later met and had a \u201cgreat conversation.\u201d \u201cSat down, talked for 10, 15 minutes about operations in LA, some activities of the Department of Homeland Security, and so I thought it was very productive,\u201d she told reporters.<\/p>\n
Following the incident, Padilla urged people protesting the Trump administration to do so peacefully. In the coming days, thousands of protests are planned across the country as Trump plans to host a military parade in Washington, DC, this weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a lot of concern, there is a lot of tension, there is a lot of anxiety, and a lot of people are beginning to make plans for what they or may or may not do come this Saturday,\u201d the senator said.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cI encourage everybody to please peacefully protest \u2013 just like I was calmly and peacefully listening in that press conference.\u201d<\/p>\n
No charges are currently planned against the senator, two law enforcement sources told CNN.<\/p>\n
Video shows forceful removal<\/p>\n
Video of the confrontation shows the senator disrupting Noem during her opening remarks at the event on DHS\u2019 response to the protests, identifying himself as he was toward the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m Sen. Alex Padilla,\u201d he shouted as he was led out of the room. \u201cI have questions for the secretary.\u201d<\/p>\n
The senator appeared to take a couple of steps forward as he was being forced back. Noem remained at her podium and attempted to speak over the senator.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the fact of the matter is, a half a dozen violent criminals that you\u2019re rotating onto your\u2014,\u201d Padilla said as he was pushed out a set of double doors.<\/p>\n
He shouted, \u201chands off!\u201d as Noem continued her remarks, and he did not finish his question.<\/p>\n
Video taken by Padilla\u2019s aides outside the room showed officers ordering him to his knees and demanding he put his hands behind his back. Uniformed FBI police officers, who provide security for bureau facilities, placed him in handcuffs as he lay on the ground.<\/p>\n
Asked about the incident later during the press conference, Noem responded: \u201cI don\u2019t even know the senator.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe did not request a meeting with me or to speak with me. So when I leave here, I\u2019ll have a conversation with him and visit and find out, really, what his concerns were.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pair spoke privately after the press conference.<\/p>\n
Elected officials, including several of Padilla\u2019s colleagues in Congress, immediately denounced the way he was treated and described it as a brutish overreaction.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers condemn incident<\/p>\n
In Washington, California Democrats and Democratic leaders swiftly condemned the \u201cmanhandling\u201d of the senator and demanded investigations into the incident.<\/p>\n
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said he was \u201csickened\u201d by the treatment of Padilla and called for \u201cimmediate answers to what the hell went on.\u201d While his counterpart in the House, Hakeem Jeffries, vowed to hold the officers who forcibly removed Padilla from the press conference accountable.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe assault on Senator Padilla today was an assault on freedom of speech in our country. It\u2019s a federal offense to attack a member of Congress. But that\u2019s not what it\u2019s about, it shouldn\u2019t be anybody in our country to be treated this way,\u201d said Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the former Democratic House speaker.<\/p>\n
Fellow California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff said he was \u201cdisgusted,\u201d called on Noem to resign and said there should be an investigation of the conduct of the officers involved.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has every right to ask questions, indeed, that\u2019s his responsibility and to be treated the way he was to be essentially bought to the ground and shackled after identifying himself is a disgraceful action,\u201d Schiff told reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus also demanded a full investigation into the incident.<\/p>\n
While a large group of House Democrats marched from the House side of the Capitol to Majority Leader John Thune\u2019s office to pressure Republicans to respond, the GOP leader provided a more muted response.<\/p>\n
Thune said he is trying to investigate the facts surrounding the incident to determine next steps. He has spoken directly with Padilla, he said, as well as has tried to reach Noem and brought in the Senate sergeant-at-arms, the top law enforcement official in the Senate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to get the full scope of what happened and do what we would do on any incident like this involving a senator, which is to try to gather all the relevant information,\u201d Thune said.<\/p>\n
House Speaker Mike Johnson, for his part, sharply criticized Padilla.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the senator\u2019s actions, my view is it was wildly inappropriate. You don\u2019t charge a sitting Cabinet secretary, and everybody can draw their own conclusions,\u201d Johnson told reporters as a group of hecklers behind him audibly countered: \u201cThat\u2019s a lie.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson appeared to try to keep his composure as he ignored the heckles.<\/p>\n
\u201cA sitting member of Congress should not act like that. It is beneath a member of Congress. It is beneath a US senator. They\u2019re supposed to lead by example, and that is not a good example. You have to turn the temperature down in this country and not escalate it. The Democrat Party is on the wrong side. They were defending lawbreakers, and now they\u2019re acting like lawbreakers themselves,\u201d the speaker went on to say.<\/p>\n
Still, two Senate Republicans did express concern.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s very disturbing,\u201d Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said of the video showing Padilla being removed, though she added: \u201cI don\u2019t know what preceded it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, meanwhile, told reporters she had also seen the video, saying: \u201cIt\u2019s horrible. It is shocking at every level.\u201d<\/p>\n
This story has been updated with additional developments.<\/p>\n
CNN\u2019s Josh Campbell, Alison Main, Nicky Robertson, Aileen Graef and Molly English contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at\u00a0CNN.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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