White House officials slammed Sen. Alex Padilla’s (D-Calif.) antics during Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s press conference on the Los Angeles riots Thursday as “childish” and “unhinged.”
“Democrat Senator Alex Padilla should be ashamed of his childish behavior today,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X.
“He crashed the middle of an official press conference being held by a cabinet secretary, recklessly lunged toward the podium where [Noem] was speaking, and then refused to leave the room and follow the directions of law enforcement officers.”
Padilla, 52, was handcuffed and briefly detained after he interrupted the DHS chief’s briefing by shouting questions about the criminal migrants Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have been rounding up in LA since last week.
The senator’s disruption went viral on social media and received substantial coverage on cable news.
“Thank you to all media outlets for playing the [Padilla’s] freak out,” White House communications director Steven Cheung wrote on X. “Shows the public what a complete lunatic Padilla is by rushing towards Secretary Noem and disturbing the informative press conference.”
In a separate post, Cheung described Padilla’s actions as “unhinged.”
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin argued that Padilla displayed “incredibly aggressive behavior” and “no one knew who he was” at the time of the outburst.
“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 on X, adding that Secret Service agents protecting the DHS secretary “thought he was an attacker and officers acted appropriately.”
After the incident, Noem said she met with Padilla “for 15 minutes,” exchanged phone numbers and agreed to “continue to talk — that is the way it should be in this country.”
“I wish he would’ve acted that way in the beginning rather than creating a scene,” Noem tweeted.
Meanwhile, Democrats defended the senator’s actions.
“United States Senator Alex Padilla was representing the millions of Californians who are demanding answers to this Administration’s actions in Southern California,” former Vice President Kamala Harris said, weighing in on X.
“This is a shameful and stunning abuse of power,” the failed 2024 Democratic nominee for president added.
Padilla replaced Harris in the Senate when she became vice president after Joe Biden’s 2020 election win.
She is believed to be considering launching a 2026 bid for governor in the Golden State. “If this is how this administration responds to a Senator with a question, you can only imagine what they’re doing to farmworkers, to cooks, and to day laborers throughout California and across the country,” Padilla said of the incident. “We will hold this administration accountable.”
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