WASHINGTON, D.C. — Members of Wyoming’s Delegation reacted to the takedown Thursday of U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla during a Homeland Security press conference by saying the California Democratic senator was responsible for the unusual and shocking sequence of events.
“Senator Padilla should be in Washington, D.C., voting,” U.S. Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyoming, told Cowboy State Daily in an email. “We’re voting on important legislation for the country and he’s not here. He has a responsibility to his constituents to show up at work –- not try to make a spectacle of himself.”
Padilla was forcibly removed from a press conference in Los Angeles held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, taken to the ground in a hallway, and handcuffed face down. The senator was attempting to ask questions during the press conference when federal agents forced him out of the room.
The incident at an L.A. federal building rocked the U.S. Senate, where several Democrats condemned Noem’s security team for the incident and called it an example of what they see as Trump’s authoritarian leanings.
“This assault on a member of the U.S. Senate is unlike anything I have ever seen,” U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, D-California, said on the Senate floor. “It crystallizes the threat posed to this country and this democracy.”
“Manhandled. Thrown to the ground. Handcuffed,” said U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York. “It was disgusting. It reeks of totalitarianism.”
Wyoming Delegation Reacts
Wyoming’s delegation had the opposite response than their Democratic colleagues in Washington.
U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyoming, told Cowboy State Daily in an email that Noem’s security detail “acted quickly and appropriately.”
“In an attempt to garner attention, the California senator did not identify himself or wear his security pin to interrupt Secretary Noem’s press conference,” Hageman said. “Officers directed him to back away and the senator failed to comply with those orders. Officers acted quickly and appropriately to remove a perceived threat.”
Joe Jackson, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, said in an email: “It sounds like DHS was unaware that he was a senator when this incident occurred and just reacted to someone aggressively lunging at Secretary Noem. He wasn't wearing a Senate pin and apparently had not identified himself to DHS security prior to pulling this staged political stunt.”
‘Nobody Knew Who He Was’
Padilla spoke to reporters after the incident and released a statement in which he said he was attempting to get Noem to respond to questions he had been asking Homeland Security officials over the past week about the deployment of military forces to Los Angeles.
“I attended Sec. Noem’s press conference in hopes of getting some answers,” he said. “After identifying myself and trying to ask a question, I was aggressively pushed out of the room, forced to the ground and handcuffed.
“If that’s what they do to a United States senator with a question, imagine what they can do to any American that dares to speak up.”
Noem told Fox News that she met with the senator after the incident and spoke with him for 10 to 15 minutes. She said she told Padilla that “nobody knew who he was” at the press conference, and that he had failed to identify himself before security intervened during the disruption.
“Coming into a press conference like this is political theater,” Noem said.
Some Democratic senators disputed the claim that Padilla failed to identify himself. They also said Padilla should have been afforded the right to ask questions about the L.A. raids carried out over the past several days by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which falls under Noem’s jurisdiction.
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, said Padilla was held in custody "for hours." Cowboy State Daily was not immediately able to confirm that information or further details.
Tensions in the U.S. Senate were already running high over Trump’s decision to call up the California National Guard and send in Marines in response to riots stemming from protests over the raids. As recently as Wednesday, Barrasso and Schumer gave dueling floor speeches on the matter.
Sean Barry can be reached at sean@cowboystatedaily.com.
