Latest news with #politicaltheatre
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
ESPN star unleashes on 'out of control' Padilla for crashing Noem press conference
ESPN star Stephen A. Smith slammed Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., on Friday after the lawmaker disrupted Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem's press conference, which led to him being forcibly removed and handcuffed. "Here you have this Sen. Alex Padilla – Can Kristi Noem speak? Could you have waited till she finished to ask your questions, to shout your questions?" he said on "The Stephen A. Smith Show." "You are a senator, right? You couldn't wait? So that was just you out of control because you were just losing it, huh. You, a United States senator, couldn't compose yourself and let the head of Homeland Security finish her thoughts before you ask the question. Couldn't do that, huh? Couldn't do it, huh?" Smith added. Conservatives Erupt After Dem Senator's 'Temper Tantrum' Sends Dhs Presser Off The Rails The DHS endorsed Smith's statements on X after releasing a statement addressing Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass's criticism of their handling of Padilla. "What @stephenasmith said," the account said, with the video of Smith. Read On The Fox News App DHS also tweeted, "Senator Padilla chose disrespectful political theatre and interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate security pin on as he lunged toward Secretary Noem. Mr. Padilla was told repeatedly to back away and did not comply with officers' repeated commands. "@SecretService thought he was an attacker and officers acted appropriately. Secretary Noem met with Senator Padilla after and held a 15 minute meeting." Smith went on to slam Padilla for "propping" himself up. "That's why you should be looking at Governor Wes Moore of Maryland, you should be looking at Josh Shapiro, governor of Pennsylvania," Smith said. "You know, the people that don't engage in this kind of nonsense. You're talking about propping yourself. It's all nonsense. It's all used as a tool to divide us." Padilla, the first Latino elected to the Senate from California, sparked a media firestorm Thursday over the press conference incident where his office says he was trying to ask Noem a question before he was "forcibly removed by federal agents, forced to the ground and handcuffed" in the wake of the Los Angeles riots. Kristi Noem Suspects 'Completely Inappropriate' Democratic Senator 'Wanted The Scene' While Noam was speaking, Padilla attempted to shout over the Trump administration official. Law enforcement intervened to impede Padilla's advance. The video of officers removing and then bringing Padilla to the ground quickly spread among lawmakers on Capitol Hill, with some senators watching the spectacle unfold on the Senate floor. Democratic lawmakers universally condemned the level of force used to remove Padilla, and staged a march to the offices of both House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., in protest. Some demanded that Noem resign from her post. Padilla was blasted by his Republican colleagues for potentially breaking the law and making "a spectacle of himself" rather than fulfilling article source: ESPN star unleashes on 'out of control' Padilla for crashing Noem press conference
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Video Proves ICE Barbie's Claim Her Goons Didn't Know Padilla Was BS
ICE Barbie Kristi Noem's claim that Secret Service agents did not know who California Senator Alex Padilla was as they forcibly removed him from a press briefing has been spectacularly disproved. Multiple clips from the incident, including one captured by a Fox News reporter, show that Padilla, a Democrat, clearly identified himself as a U.S. senator as Noem's security detail approached him midway through a Thursday news conference. 'I am Sen. Alex Padilla,' he can be heard saying clearly, as a member of Noem's security team held the 52-year-old politician's shirt and pushed him backward. Struggling to speak while being engaged, Padilla continued: 'I have questions for the secretary, because the fact of the matter is a half a dozen violent criminals that should be–' Padilla was removed from the briefing room before he could finish his statement. Noem and the communications team at the Department of Homeland Security, which President Donald Trump appointed her to oversee, were accused of immediately going into spin mode, placing blame for the ordeal on Padilla and claiming that he was a random man for all they knew. 'Senator Padilla chose disrespectful political theatre and interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate security pin on as he lunged toward Secretary Noem,' said DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin. Noem quickly went on Fox News to make a similar claim. 'This man burst into the room, started lunging towards the podium, interrupting me and elevating his voice, and was stopped,' she said of Padilla. 'He did not identify himself and was removed from the room. So, as soon as he identified himself, appropriate actions were taken.' More than 20 seconds passed between Padilla identifying himself as a senator and him being ordered to the ground and briefly placed in handcuffs. One of his staffers recorded the ordeal until an official blocked the view of his camera and ordered him to stop recording. The FBI said in a statement that Padilla was not wearing a 'Senate security pin' that would confirm his identity to federal agents. The bureau added that he was 'disruptive' at the event and was released after he was 'positively identified.' Republicans have defended the Secret Service and agreed with Noem's claim that Padilla did not identify himself. Democrats, perhaps predictably, have sided with Padilla. 'If they can handcuff a U.S. Senator for asking a question, imagine what they will do to you,' said California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Padilla had a similar message in a statement he gave shortly after the incident. 'If this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question, you can only imagine what they're doing to farm workers, to cooks, to day laborers out in the Los Angeles community, and throughout California, and throughout the country,' he said. 'We will hold this administration accountable.'
BBC News
2 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Sen Alex Padilla dragged out of Noem immigration briefing in LA
Democratic US Senator Alex Padilla has been forcibly removed from a news conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los was offering the latest figures on immigration enforcement in the area, which has led to nearly a week of protests in the city, to members of the news media when Sen Padilla interrupted and started shouting a removed from the room, the California senator was removal caused condemnation on both sides of the aisle, with fellow senators calling the arrest shocking and a "sickening disgrace" and the Trump administration dubbing it "disrespectful political theatre". "I'm Senator Alex Padilla," he said as he was confronted by authorities. "I have questions for the secretary!" Noem, who was speaking about immigration and the protests in LA, continued addressing reporters and law enforcement officers while the senator was ejected from the office said he was "forced to the ground and handcuffed" by federal agents when trying to ask the secretary a question, and added that he was not currently being detained. The Department of Homeland Security said Padilla had engaged in "disrespectful political theatre" and that Noem met with the senator after the news Mayor Karen Bass called the incident "absolutely abhorrent and outrageous", adding that the Trump administration's "violent attacks on our city must end". Padilla told reporters that he was already in the federal building for a previously scheduled meeting. He said he stopped by Noem's news briefing because he and his colleagues have received "little to no information in response" to several immigration-related the son of Mexican immigrants, is the most senior Democrat on the Senate's Border Security and Immigration subcommittee."I came to the press conference to hear what she had to say, to see if I could learn any new additional information," he said. "If this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question, you can only imagine what they're doing to farm workers, to cooks, to day labourers out in the Los Angeles community and throughout California and throughout the country."He urged Americans across the country to "continue peacefully protesting" the Trump administration and its DHS in a statement said Padilla didn't identify himself and was not wearing the Senator's pin on his clothing so officers thought he was an attacker. Video footage of the incident shows Padilla saying he was he was a senator as he was being pushed outside the room. California's Governor Gavin Newsom called on Republican congressional leadership to condemn the detaining of Padilla. "If they can handcuff a U.S. Senator for asking a question, imagine what they will do to you," Newsom wrote on social the White House accused the California senator of storming the press conference, and said he "yelled and lunged toward Secretary Noem". "Padilla didn't want answers; he wanted attention," Abigail Jackson, White House spokesperson said. "Padilla embarrassed himself and his constituents with this immature, theater-kid stunt – but it's telling that Democrats are more riled up about Padilla than they are about the violent riots and assaults on law enforcement in LA."Former vice-president and Trump opponent, Kamala Harris also criticised the move and said the California senator was trying to get answers for his constituents about the ongoing immigration raids in the state. "United States Senator Alex Padilla was representing the millions of Californians who are demanding answers to this Administration's actions in Southern California," she said on Twitter. "This is a shameful and stunning abuse of power."
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
San Antonio mayor's response to Texas gov. deploying the National Guard
The Democratic mayor of San Antonio criticized Texas Governor Greg Abbott for deploying the state's National Guard to the predominantly Hispanic city ahead of immigration protests that, so far, haven't happened. Mayor Ron Nirenberg condemned the move as unnecessary and politically motivated, comparing it to former President Donald Trump's deployment of military forces during protests in Los Angeles — a decision that bypassed local authorities. Unlike LA, the protests in San Antonio haven't yet, and there is no indication from local law enforcement that the Texas National Guard is needed, the Democrat added. 'This has been geared towards theatre and provocation,' Nirenberg told reporters at a press conference Wednesday. Under normal protocol, a mayor would request National Guard assistance from the governor in response to emergencies such as natural disasters or anticipated violence. However, Nirenberg revealed that neither he nor the police department were consulted or informed before the Guard's deployment. 'No, sir — and we didn't receive any advance warning either,' the mayor said. 'We weren't given this information. We had to go looking for it.' Standing alongside the mayor, Police Chief William McManus confirmed that the San Antonio Police Department had not been informed of the Guard's role or numbers and has had no direct communication with Guard leaders — an unusual lack of coordination. 'We are fully prepared for a peaceful demonstration,' McManus said, referring to a planned protest at the Alamo on Wednesday evening and an anti-Trump rally scheduled for Saturday. 'But we are also prepared if it turns violent.' Gov. Greg Abbott previously sent Guard troops to the southern border during President Joe Biden's administration in another controversial decision. In response to questions from the Daily Mail, Abbott's press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris, defended the decision. 'Peaceful protests are part of the fabric of our nation, but Texas will not tolerate the lawlessness we've seen in Los Angeles,' Mahaleris told Daily Mail in emailed statement. 'Anyone engaging in violence or damaging property will be swiftly held accountable.' Recent anti-ICE demonstrations in Austin and Dallas were largely peaceful, though 13 arrests were made in Austin, where three officers were reportedly injured by thrown objects. A fourth officer was injured and spat on while detaining a demonstrator. In San Antonio, the deployment has stirred confusion and frustration. City officials were caught off guard, with the mayor's term set to end next week. Local authorities insist they can manage the protests without state military intervention. 'I have full faith in our San Antonio Police Department and our community to set an example of peaceful protest,' Nirenberg said. 'We must speak out against cruelty, but do so peacefully. That's the most powerful form of opposition.' Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests have been quietly taking place for weeks at San Antonio's federal courthouse, targeting migrants complying with court-mandated check-ins.
Telegraph
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
There is no ‘white genocide' in South Africa. But Trump has made up his mind
As Donald Trump confronted the South African president in an extraordinary meeting in the Oval Office, he clutched a sheaf of news reports he said showed mass killings of white farmers. In a powerful stroke of political theatre, he reeled off the fate of each of the people in the stories. 'Death, death, death, horrible death, death,' he intoned as he went through each example. The reports along with a video of incendiary speeches from firebrand opposition politicians threatening to steal white land, or attack white people, showed Cyril Ramaphosa was allowing a genocide to occur, he suggested. Such claims have been circulating for years and were also raised in 2018 during Mr Trump's first term, but the accusation has now become so ubiquitous it is a significant obstacle in South Africa's attempts to reset relations with Washington. Accusations that white people in South Africa are victims of a genocide have become a rallying cry for Right-wing groups in Europe and the US. The claims have roots in South Africa's appalling levels of violent crime; in unresolved racial tensions over the distribution of land and in the very real fears of exposed rural communities. Yet researchers say the claims are also false and that while white farmers have been killed, it is as part of a pattern of crime, extreme violence and lawlessness across the country. They say the attacks are motivated by opportunistic criminality, are not part of a concerted campaign, and that black people, including black farmers, are far more likely to be killed. None of South Africa's political parties, including those representing Afrikaners, allege a 'white genocide' is underway. A South African judge in February ruled the idea of a genocide was 'clearly imagined' and 'not real', when deciding an inheritance case involving a wealthy benefactor's donation to the Boerelegioen right wing paramilitary group. 'The idea of a 'white genocide' taking place in South Africa is completely false,' said Gareth Newham, head of a justice and violence prevention program at the Institute for Security Studies in South Africa. 'As an independent institute tracking violence and violent crime in South Africa, if there was any evidence of either a genocide or targeted violence taking place against any group based on their ethnicity this, we would be amongst the first to raise (the) alarm and provide the evidence to the world.' 'Murder' case with no murders The fact that the reality was different than Mr Trump suggested was illustrated by the very first murder case study that he held up. The first cutting reported an attack on 73-year-old Jan Jurgens in his farm outside Mbombela, in the country's north-east. Mr Jurgens was not killed as Mr Trump said, however, though he was badly hurt when armed intruders attacked him and tied him up last week. Mr Jurgens' wife, Antoinette, was also attacked when she returned home. She managed to fight them off and lock herself in the house and alert staff on the farm. The attackers fled with a HP laptop, a mobile phone, and a handbag containing bank cards and an ID. The fear of such crime is widespread in rural South Africa, where the majority of farmland is still owned by white farmers and police are accused of doing too little to protect them or catch the culprits. Attackers can use horrific violence. Adding to the sense of being under siege are the incendiary speeches by populists like Julius Malema of the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) who preaches the redistribution of land. He also leads supporters in a song with the refrain 'kill the boer', which critics say is an incitement to violence against white farmers. Most people killed in South Africa are black But researchers say that while violent crime is rife in South Africa, the vast majority of victims are black and poor, and white people are not being deliberately targeted. Quarterly figures show that around 75 people are murdered in the country each day. That compares with fewer than two murders each day in England and Wales, with a similar population size. Police statistics show that nearly 7,000 people were killed in the last three months of 2024 and of those, 12 murders occurred on farms. The data do not record race, but one of those killed was a farmer and the rest were farm workers, people staying on farms and a security guard. When Mr Trump earlier this year raised the issue, the chief of South Africa's largest farm lobby group, AgriSA, denied farmers were being killed for political reasons. Johann Kotzé said: 'Crime in South Africa is too high. If a murder is on a farm, we call it a farm murder. But remember that same night somebody was also murdered in the little township where the farm workers came from.' At a major agricultural fair last week in the Free State province, farmers told reporters that they were worried about safety and the lack of government help, but said the crime was affecting everyone. Thobani Ntonga, a black farmer from Eastern Cape province, told Associated Press he had been attacked on his farm by criminals and almost kidnapped before a neighbour intervened. He said: 'Crime affects both black and white. ... It's an issue of vulnerability. 'Farmers are separated from your general public. We're not near towns, we are in the rural areas. And I think it's exactly that. So, perpetrators, they thrive on that, on the fact that farms are isolated.' Prof Rudolph Zinn, a criminologist at the University of Limpopo, has interviewed dozens of convicted farm attackers and said in all cases he had found they were driven by financial gain. Attackers sought cash or goods, and often saw farms as soft targets. Mr Ramaphosa, backed by his delegation and mutual friends of Mr Trump like Ernie Els and the businessman Johann Rupert, will be trying to make these arguments to the US government. Their fear is that Mr Trump does not really want to listen.
