Sen. Alex Padilla disputed the White House’s account of the events surrounding his forcible removal from a press conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem Thursday in Los Angeles, pushing back against key details about what exactly preceded his handcuffing by federal law enforcement agents.
Both the White House and Noem said Padilla failed to identify himself to security, yelled and lunged toward Noem, all accusations that the California senator denied in his first interview after the incident — on MSNBC with NBC News’ Jacob Soboroff.
“That’s ridiculous. It’s a lie, but par for the course for this administration,” Padilla began.
“They said I wasn’t wearing my pin, my polo says United States Senate,” Padilla said. “There was no threat. There was no lunging. I raised my voice to ask a question, and it took what maybe, half a second before multiple agents were on me.”
NBC News has reached out to the White House for comment.
Noem held a press conference in Los Angeles on Thursday related to ongoing immigration raids across the city that have triggered volatile protests.
Padilla, who was attending a nearby briefing, interrupted Noem’s remarks, which he characterized as increasingly inaccurate and partisan, before he was forcibly removed from the event, put down on the ground and handcuffed by FBI officers, resulting in widespread backlash from Democrats.
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