California Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla has continued to defend himself and refute claims by the Trump administration that he “crashed” Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem’s information convention earlier than federal officers shoved him outside the room, pushed him to the ground and handcuffed him.
Padilla, the highest Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Security, supplied extra particulars concerning the incident Thursday evening throughout an interview on MSNBC — through which he mentioned he was not a menace and had merely raised his voice to ask a query.
The senator claimed he didn’t barge into the information convention, as alleged by Noem, however slightly he was within the federal constructing for an authorized scheduled briefing with representatives of the Northern Command. He mentioned that assembly was delayed by Noem’s information convention in a close-by room, the place she was discussing the administration’s use of the Nationwide Guard to answer protests over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Padilla mentioned he determined to go to hearken to Noem’s information convention and requested the Nationwide Guard member and FBI agent escorting with him if he may go.
California Senator Alex Padilla is pushed to the bottom and handcuffed throughout a press convention held by Secretary of Homeland Safety Kristi Noem in Los Angeles, June 12, 2025.
The Workplace of U.S. Senator Alex Padilla
“We’re, the entire time, being escorted on this federal constructing by any person from the Nationwide Guard, any person from the FBI. I’ve gone via screening. It is a federal constructing. And so, I inform them, ‘Let’s go hearken to the press convention.’ They escort me over to that room,” Padilla advised MSNBC.
“The parents that have been escorting me within the constructing walked me over. I did not even open the door. The door was opened for me. And I spent a couple of minutes at the back of the room simply listening in till the rhetoric, the political rhetoric received to be an excessive amount of to take. So, I spoke up,” he later added.
Throughout her information convention, Noem claimed she was going to “liberate” Los Angeles “from the socialists and the burdensome management this governor and mayor have positioned on this nation and this metropolis.”
Padilla advised MSNBC that he felt he wanted to talk out, mentioned he launched himself and began asking a query earlier than the officers pushed him out of the room as information cameras, reporters and onlookers recorded the incident.
Sen. Alex Padilla, Democrat from California, who interrupted a press convention held by U.S. Secretary of Homeland Safety Kristi Noem, is faraway from the venue, in Los Angeles, June 12, 2025.
Etienne Laurent/AP
Noem mentioned legislation enforcement reacted as they did as a result of Padilla got here towards her with out figuring out himself. She advised Fox Information Thursday that nobody knew who he was and that he was “lunging ahead.”
Video of the incident captures Padilla figuring out himself and saying he wished to ask a query as he’s pushed out of the room; it is not clear from the video if he recognized himself earlier than that time, together with as he got here ahead towards the rostrum. Padilla was sporting a navy blue polo shirt with a small U.S. Senate emblem, however it was coated below a navy blue jacket. He mentioned he was not sporting a U.S. Senate safety pin on the time of the incident.
Sen. Alex Padilla, Democrat from California,who interrupted a press convention held by U.S. Secretary of Homeland Safety Kristi Noem, is faraway from the venue, in Los Angeles, June 12, 2025.
Aude Guerrucci/Reuters
After he was shortly launched, he and Noem had a personal dialog for “10-Quarter-hour” after the incident, in response to each the senator and the secretary.
Noem mentioned that Padilla will seemingly not be charged.
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday mentioned Padilla must be “ashamed of his infantile habits.”
“He crashed the center of an official press convention being held by a cupboard secretary, recklessly lunged towards the rostrum the place @Sec_Noem was talking, after which refused to depart the room and comply with the instructions of legislation enforcement officers,” Leavitt posted to X.
Outraged Democratic senators shortly got here to Padilla’s protection Thursday, claiming Noem and the officers mistreated the senator.
“That is an administration that has no respect for our democracy, for our establishments, for the separation of powers, for a co-equal department of presidency,” California Sen. Adam Schiff mentioned.
Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski advised reporters, “I’ve seen that one clip. It’s horrible. It’s surprising at each degree. It isn’t the America I do know.”
Home Speaker Mike Johnson and different Republicans chastised Padilla, with Johnson going as far as saying censure is perhaps wanted. A vote to censure doesn’t maintain any energy past a public condemnation of the member’s habits and it doesn’t deny the member privileges.
Sen. Majority Chief John Thune advised reporters Thursday night that he had spoken with Padilla and the Senate Sergeant At Arms and had tried to achieve Noem in an effort to collect the details.
Sen. Alex Padilla, Democrat from California, speaks to reporters after he was forcibly eliminated after interrupting a information convention being held by Secretary of Homeland Safety Kristi Noem, in Los Angeles, June 12, 2025.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP through Getty Photographs
“We wish to get the total scope of what occurred and do what we’d do in any incident like this involving a senator, that’s, attempt to collect the entire related info,” he mentioned.
When requested if he thought what occurred was applicable primarily based on what he had up to now seen, Thune mentioned, “That is all I’ve received to say.”
