Speaking in a whining interview with The New York Times’ Lulu Garcia Navarro, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) again freaked out and melted down over the fact that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem’s security detail had shoved him to the ground and arrested him after he lunged toward her during a press conference.
As background, the original incident occurred back in June of this year, when Secretary Noem was giving a press conference in Los Angeles about her department’s response to the anti-ICE riots in the city, riots that caused much damage and led to horrific violence against ICE agents who were attempting to enforce the law in the city.
Sen. Padilla attended the press conference without wearing his Congressional pin, which would have alerted members of the security team that he was a member of Congress. Instead, practically unmarked as a legislator, Sen. Padilla lunged toward Secretary Noem during the incident, and as a result was taken down and handcuffed, tearing up as that happened.
Since then, despite the facts that what happened was clearly justified given his behavior and lack of identification, Sen. Padilla has kept using the incident to attack the Trump Administration and claim as evidence of tyranny. Such is what happened as he continued his months-long meltdown over it in the NYT interview, saying that it should be a “wake-up call.”
Saying as much when commenting on the incident to Navarro, Sen. Padilla claimed that getting tackled for lunging toward the DHS Secretary in a city wracked by riots was unconscionable, saying, “Never would I have imagined that that would have happened — that that would be a response to a question, especially to a senator trying to ask a question.”
Continuing, he insisted that the Trump administration should have apologized to him for what happened, telling Navarro, “No apology, but honestly not surprised, just given how this administration tends to carry itself. I wish I could say it was more substantive or more constructive. She finally did say, ‘Well, I understand you’re asking for more information. What’s your question?’”
Getting to his bit about the consequences he faced for his bad behavior being a “wake-up call” for the country, Sen. Padilla then said, “It was clear to me that if that’s how this administration would respond to a senator with a question, imagine not just how they could treat so many other people, but how they are treating so many other people when the cameras are not on. This should be a wake-up call.” He also said, showing a total lack of respect for the difficult job of the security team, “At minimum, it was a hell of an overreaction.”
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Then, angrily commenting on JD Vance calling him “Jose” after the incident, Padilla snapped, “But they knew who I was. Just like Vice President Vance knows my name, but he chose to call me Jose. We served together for two years in the Senate, for Christ’s sake. He knows who I am, but it’s the way they choose to go about things.”
Watch Padilla’s arrest here: