'Despicable': Dems demand Noem testify after senator handcuffed
Outraged and demanding accountability, House Democrats are calling on U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to testify before Congress after her protective detail tackled and handcuffed U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) during a press conference—despite video (below) showing Padilla clearly identifying himself by name, which the Department of Homeland Security now publicly denies.
Politico’s Nicholas Wu reported that California House Democrats are “standing together” on the Capitol steps “in protest” of Senator Padilla’s detention.
Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), Wu reported, said: “we are going to demand is that Kristi Noem come before Congress and testify about what occurred today. Because if it can happen to Alex, it can happen to any of those senators.”U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) said on the House steps that he didn’t expect Padilla to be the last lawmaker “accosted by federal law enforcement,” according to Courthouse News’ Benjamin S. Weiss.
“This is what aspiring dictators do,” Swalwell said, as he called on Secretary Noem to testify before Congress “as soon as possible.”
U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) called the takedown and detention of Senator Padilla “despicable.”
Senator Padilla “is the elected representative of 40 million Americans. This Administration is detaining citizens in broad daylight and terrifying our communities, all while refusing to answer questions. I will be calling on Secretary Noem to testify in the House Oversight Committee immediately to explain why she thinks this is acceptable.”
“We aren’t going to be intimidated,” the California Democratic delegation also said on the Capitol steps, NBC News’ Julie Tsirkin reported, adding that U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) called on Noem to “resign.”
Factual details about what transpired were reported by The Associated Press.
“Video shows a Secret Service agent on Noem’s security detail grabbing Padilla,” according to the AP, “by his jacket and shoving him from the room as he tried to interrupt Noem’s news conference in Los Angeles.”
“I’m Sen. Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary,” Senator Padilla shouted.
“The shocking scene of a U.S. senator being aggressively removed from a Cabinet secretary’s news conference prompted immediate outrage from his Democratic colleagues,” the AP also reported. “Images and video of the scuffle ricocheted through the halls of Congress, where stunned lawmakers demanded an immediate investigation and characterized the episode as another in a line of mounting threats to democracy by President Donald Trump’s administration.”
Politico also reported that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, ”every single person who was involved in manhandling Senator Padilla should be held accountable to the full extent of the law.”
Watch the video below or at this link.