Padilla says FBI agent, Guard member escorted him to Noem's briefing before removal
Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) said Sunday that a member of the National Guard and an FBI agent escorted him into Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's press conference last week before he was forcefully removed.
The big picture: Administration officials and allies claim Padilla interrupted the briefing to manufacture a scene. Democrats, whose fears of arrest and the hands of the administration have soared, say the senior senator from California was doing his job by questioning the secretary.
Tensions were already high, as protests in Los Angeles over the administration's aggressive immigration crackdown set the stage for a showdown between President Trump and state Democratic officials.
When Padilla interrupted Noem to try to ask a question, Axios' Noah Bressner reported, she had just said her agents were staying in LA to "liberate this city from the socialist and the burdensome leadership that this governor and this mayor have placed on this country."
Driving the news: Padilla said on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday that he arrived at a federal building for a scheduled briefing with representatives from U.S. Northern Command when he learned Noem was having a press conference "a couple doors down."
He said he requested to listen in and was escorted into the room by a member of the National Guard and an FBI agent.
"They opened the door for me, and they stood next to me while I was listening for the entire time," he told CNN's Dana Bash. "And then, of course, once I was forcibly removed and handcuffed."
Friction point: DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Thursday that Padilla "interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself" and that Secret Service believed he was "an attacker."
In footage of the incident shared by McLaughlin on social media, Padilla can be heard saying, "I am Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary" as he is pushed away.
"What does it say about the secretary to not know who the senator from California is, the ranking member of the judiciary subcommittee on immigration?" Padilla questioned Sunday.
DHS did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.
Zoom out: On Saturday, Padilla led the entirety of the Senate Democratic caucus in demanding that Trump remove all military forces from LA and stop threatening to further deploy troops, Axios' Stephen Neukam scooped.
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