Trump Administration Downplays Alex Padilla Incident With Misleading Characterizations | EUROtoday

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

Noem claimed that Padilla didn’t establish himself as he tried to ask her a query, though he can clearly be heard saying his identify close to the beginning of the incident.

The White House equally characterised Padilla’s disruption as an attention-seeking transfer, saying in an announcement that the senator “lunged” towards Noem. He doesn’t seem to have executed so.

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

Video of the interplay, nonetheless, reveals Padilla stepping to the entrance of the press convention as she spoke about Immigration and Customs Enforcement exercise in a number of the communities Padilla represents. He stated later that he was initially there to look at the press convention “peacefully,” however that at one level, he had a query and wished to demand a solution.

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

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

Noem seems to proceed speaking over the disruption.

Speaking in a while Fox News, she stated that “nobody knew who he was when he came into the room creating a scene.” She made the same touch upon CNN.

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

But the handcuffing got here after Padilla had advised safety who he was.

The Department of Homeland Security stated in an announcement that Noem’s safety “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 stated.

The incident sparked prompt, fiery criticism from Democrats, a few of whom took to the Senate ground to decry Padilla’s remedy.

“Being disruptive is OK if it’s just using your words and not your body!” stated 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.