Padilla pushes back against Noem's claim he barged into news conference
California Sen. Alex Padilla has continued to defend himself and refute the claims by the Trump administration that he crashed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's news conference before federal officers shoved him outside the room, pushed him onto the floor and handcuffed him.
Padilla, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety, provided more details about the incident Thursday night during an interview on MSNBC -- where he said he was not a threat and merely raised his voice to ask a question.
MORE: Democrats condemn senator being pushed down and handcuffed at Noem press conference
The senator claimed he did not barge into the news conference, as alleged by Noem, but rather he was in the federal building for an approved scheduled briefing with representatives of the Northern Command. He said the meeting was delayed by Noem's news conference, where she discussed the use of the National Guard in the city.
Padilla said he decided to go listen to the news conference and asked the National Guard and FBI agents with him if he could go.
"We're, the whole time, being escorted in this federal building by somebody from the National Guard, somebody from the FBI. I've gone through screening. This is a federal building. And so, I tell them, 'Let's go listen to the press conference.' They escort me over to that room," Padilla told MSNBC.
"The folks that were escorting me in the building walked me over. I didn't even open the door. The door was opened for me. And I spent a few minutes in the back of the room just listening in until the rhetoric, the political rhetoric got to be too much to take. So, I spoke up," he later added.
MORE: Video Sen. Alex Padilla speaks after being forcibly removed from DHS Press Conference
During her news conference, Noem claimed she was going to "liberate" Los Angeles "from the socialists and the burdensome leadership this governor and mayor have placed on this country and this city."
Padilla told MSNBC that he needed to speak out and said he introduced himself before the officers grabbed him and pushed him out of the room as onlookers filmed the incident.
Noem said law enforcement reacted because he took steps toward her without identifying himself. She told Fox News Thursday that no one knew who he was and that he was "lunging forward."
Video of the incident captures Padilla identifying himself as he is pushed out of the room; it's not clear from video if he said his name before the incident or as he approached the podium. Padilla was wearing a navy blue polo shirt that had the U.S. Senate logo under a navy blue jacket. He said he was not wearing a Senate pin at the time of the incident.
Padilla was not detained or arrested and he and Noem had a private conversation for "10-15 minutes" after the incident, according to both the senator and the secretary.
Noem said that Padilla will likely not be charged.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday said Padilla should be "ashamed of his childish behavior."
"He crashed the middle of an official press conference being held by a cabinet secretary, recklessly lunged toward the podium where @Sec_Noem was speaking, and then refused to leave the room and follow the directions of law enforcement officers," Leavitt posted to X.
Democratic senators quickly came to Padilla's defense Thursday, calling out Noem and the officers for mishandling the senator.
"This is an administration that has no respect for our democracy, for our institutions, for the separation of powers, for a co-equal branch of government Sen. Adam Schiff said.
MORE: Democrats condemn senator being pushed down and handcuffed at Noem press conference
House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans chastised Padilla. Johnson claimed that censure might be needed. A vote to censure does not hold any power beyond a public condemnation of the member's behavior and it does not deny the member privileges.
Sen. Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Thursday evening that he had spoken with Padilla and the Senate Sergeant At Arms and had attempted to reach Noem and said he was gathering facts.
"We want to get the full scope of what happened and do what we would do in any incident like this involving a senator, that is, try to gather all of the relevant information," he said.
When asked if he thought what occurred was appropriate based on what he had so far seen, Thune said, "That's all I've got to say."
Padilla pushes back against Noem's claim he barged into news conference originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
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