A Democratic representative broke rank within his own party by describing the altercation between law enforcement and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) on Thursday as “theater.”
Speaking to Axios, Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) weighed in on the intense moment that occurred during a press conference with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and expressed that he felt it was out of place.
“I think that it’s never good when a senator or member of Congress gets roughed up by law enforcement,” Golden told Axios Thursday in an interview at the Capitol.
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But, he added: “I don’t think politics as theater is what our job is here.”
Padilla was forcibly removed by officers after he tried to ask Noem a question during a news conference on immigration at the Los Angeles FBI Headquarters Thursday. Democrats have since stood by Padilla; Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said the incident made him sick to his stomach, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren called it “horrifying.”
In video footage captured by reporters, Padilla can be seen introducing himself before several officers proceed to push him out of the room before detaining him, holding him to the ground, and handcuffing him.
The senator was later allowed to meet with Noem however, per Axios.
“Storming into the FBI headquarters and trying to break up a press conference and rushing on a [cabinet] secretary is not really the job of an elected official,” Golden added of the moment to the outlet.
Still, he noted: “I am not in any way saying that means law enforcement should be slamming people around.”
Padilla subsequently told reporters that he was at the press conference “peacefully.”
“I was there peacefully,” the senator said, per NBC News. “At one point, I had a question, and so I began to ask a question. I was almost immediately forcibly removed from the room, I was forced to the ground, and I was handcuffed.”
In a following interview with Fox News, Noem claimed that Padilla did not identify himself before being forced out of the room despite video footage capturing him doing so.
“We were conducting a press conference to update everyone on the enforcement actions that are ongoing to bring peace to the city of Los Angeles,” Noem said, referring to the ongoing protests against immigration raids in L.A.
“And 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,” she continued.
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.”
Acting ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch, further told Axios that he thinks Padilla’s incident on Thursday should be investigated.
“We only saw clips of it, so I’d like to find out everything that happened and how that occurred,” Lynch told the outlet. “He was very roughly handled, and it seemed like he was just trying to interject and attend the [press] conference. So, yeah, I think we need to take a good hard look at it.”
