Last Thursday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem held a press conference in Los Angeles to provide updates on the Trump administration’s immigration sweeps that were being conducted in the area, as well as how they were handling the Los Angeles riots.
Just a few minutes into the presser, a man could be seen trying to push his way closer to Noem in the briefing room, despite her security detail, which included the Secret Service and the FBI, trying to get him to back off.
A scuffle ensued as the man continued talking over everyone else, trying to get Noem’s attention. At one point, as the grappling continued, the man announced, “I’m Sen. Alex Padilla, and I have questions for the secretary.”
The agents continued to wrestle with the man, eventually maneuvering him out into a hallway, where he was taken to the ground and handcuffed.
As it turns out, the man was indeed Padilla, a California Democrat. But according to DHS officials, Padilla was not only acting erratically; he was also not wearing the security pin that members of Congress are required to wear to confirm they are who they say they are.
“This man burst into the room, started lunging towards the podium, interrupting me and elevating his voice, and was stopped, did not identify himself, and was removed from the room,” Noem told Fox News in the aftermath of the incident.
“The way that he acted was completely inappropriate.”
While video does show Padilla behaving aggressively, it also shows him saying he’s Sen. Alex Padilla.
But in light of the threats members of Congress as well as members of federal law enforcement routinely receive and which reportedly have escalated since the sweeps started, simply saying “I’m so and so” doesn’t suffice.
While Republicans are accusing Padilla of deliberately staging a stunt, the incident sparked outrage among Democrats, who are now demanding an investigation into why a United States senator was “manhandled” and handcuffed for merely “asking questions” of Noem.
But in an interview last Thursday on CNN, Josh Campbell, the network’s security correspondent, explained why Padilla’s actions were so problematic.
“First, you have the DHS secretary who is addressing the press. This was not a Q&A period, and she’s interrupted. She’s interrupted by someone who was speaking very loudly,” Campbell explained.
“And so her security detail confronts what we obviously now know to be the senator. And at that point, he is now going to be escorted out. You can’t interrupt something like that that’s already in progress without having those consequences.”
He went on to explain that “the second incident, in my view, happens the moment, as officers are trying to lead him out — he then turns and walks back towards, kind of into those agents. At that point, from a security detail perspective, we’re taking this person out against their will. We’ve asked the person, and again, this is all happening very quickly, but the moment he then turns into them, they realize this is not someone who is going to comply.”
Campbell, I should point out, was a special assistant to former FBI Director James Comey and, like Comey, is not a big fan of President Donald Trump. So for him to be countering the various narratives Democrats were trying to push is significant, in my opinion.
Based on all the available video evidence we have so far, I’d have to concur with Campbell’s assessment.
There was a better way for Padilla to go about doing this, but he chose not to. That’s not the fault of the agents who briefly detained him. That’s the fault of Sen. Alex Padilla himself.
North Carolina native Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah and is a media analyst and regular contributor to RedState and Legal Insurrection.
