Trump Administration Downplays Alex Padilla Incident With Misleading Characterizations

The administration of President Donald Trump swiftly sought to downplay a Thursday incident in which Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) was roughly pinned to the ground and briefly handcuffed during a press conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles.

Noem claimed that Padilla did not identify himself as he tried to ask her a question, even though he can clearly be heard saying his name near the start of the incident.

The White House similarly characterized Padilla’s disruption as an attention-seeking move, saying in a statement that the senator “lunged” toward Noem. He does not appear to have done so.

“Padilla embarrassed himself and his constituents with this immature, theater-kid stunt,” the White House said.

Video of the interaction, however, shows Padilla stepping to the front of the press conference as she spoke about Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in some of the communities Padilla represents. He said later that he was initially there to watch the press conference “peacefully,” but that at one point, he had a question and wanted to demand an answer.

“You insist on exaggerating,” he told Noem as she spoke, before being grabbed by Secret Service officers and pulled backward.

Padilla can be heard saying, “Sir! Sir! Hands off. Hands off. I am Sen. Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary.”

Noem appears to continue talking over the disruption.

Speaking later on Fox News, she said that “nobody knew who he was when he came into the room creating a scene.” She made a similar comment on CNN.

“They started to put handcuffs on him when he finally identified himself, and then that was stopped,” Noem told Fox viewers.

But the handcuffing came after Padilla had told security who he was.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that Noem’s security “thought he was an attacker and officers acted appropriately.”

“Senator Padilla chose disrespectful political theatre and interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate security pin on as he lunged toward Secretary Noem,” DHS said.

The incident sparked instant, fiery criticism from Democrats, some of whom took to the Senate floor to decry Padilla’s treatment.

“Being disruptive is OK if it’s just using your words and not your body!” said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii). “There is no context that justifies this action. Alex Padilla is not required to be impeccable in every single way in order to exercise his responsibilities as an American and one of two that represents California in the Senate.”

“This is the stuff of dictatorships!” Schatz yelled.

Democrats have demanded a bipartisan investigation into the incident.