Did they know he was a US Senator? He was in LA. He was dressed like a zhlub. He had no escort, no security pin, no staffers. He barged in and marched towards the stage. Yes escort him out and yes, detain him until they can verify he isn’t a threat and there were no charges to file.
His behavior was atrocious. Not the proper decorum for a US Senator. He later ranted about his free speech rights being infringed. No they were not. His right to speech doesn’t extend to inhibiting Noem’s free speech rights. This wasn’t a street protest it was in a federal building. His comrades later complained that he was prevented from doing oversight. More BS. Oversight does not mean you ambush a Cabinet secretary in the middle of a speech. There would have been plenty of time to talk later or ask questions if there was a Q&A session after the briefing. And indeed the senator and the secretary did sit and talk for 15 minutes afterwards. So all if his antics were just the racings of a lunatic trying to make the news. IMO he didn’t come across well. Maybe 30% of Democrats Will approve of this most everyone else will think he’s just a lunatic. Someone needs to primary him.
“Did they know he was a US Senator? He was in LA. He was dressed like a zhlub.”
“Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin criticized Padilla for his behavior in an X post following the incident.
“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,” McLaughlin wrote.
“Mr. Padilla was told repeatedly to back away and did not comply with officers’ repeated commands,” she continued. “@SecretService thought he was an attacker and officers acted appropriately.””
That's the Democrats' latest canard to justify their recent boorish behavior.
Proper oversight is when Senators are in committee holding hearings where the Secretary of Homeland Security is called to answer questions.
Oversight is not shouting questions from whatever street corner they happen to be standing at.
-PJ