Democrats Demand Investigation Into Padilla Incident, Saying Agents Illegally Assaulted the Senator

Democrats are demanding an investigation into the Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service after Senator Padilla was aggressively removed from the homeland security secretary’s press conference on Thursday. Lawmakers say that Mr. Padilla being removed and handcuffed is only the beginning of the White House’s overreach. After the House voted on Thursday afternoon, about 20 lawmakers marched to the Senate to meet with the majority leader, Senator Thune. Congressman Jim McGovern, who was one of the Democrats who tried to sit down with the Senate leader, tells the Sun that Mr. Thune was at the White House and his staff refused to set up a meeting or disclose when he would be returning. Members of the Hispanic Caucus, the Black Caucus, and the Progressive Caucus then tried to meet with Speaker Johnson, though they were rebuffed. The chairman of the Hispanic Caucus, Congressman Adriano Espaillat, tells the Sun that the speaker would not meet with them even though he was in the office. A staff member for Mr. Johnson told the Democrats that they would not be allowed to see him. After trying to get into the speaker’s office, Mr. Espaillat and about 20 other House members stood in the hallway to decry what happened to Mr. Padilla. Mr. Espaillat said there should be charges brought against the federal agents who shoved the senator out of the press conference and handcuffed him. “The people that perpetrated the crime should be investigated,” the congressman said of the agents who removed Mr. Padilla from the press conference, put him on the ground, and handcuffed him. “Anybody that sees this video understands that pushing somebody around the way they did and throwing him on the ground — that’s assault.”Another member of the Hispanic Caucus, Congressman Ruiz, told reporters that when it comes to how Mr. Padilla was manhandled, the “buck stops” with the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, and her agents. “Noem is responsible. It’s the department — the agency — that’s responsible. The buck stops with them,” Mr. Ruiz said of who should be held accountable. “They are responsible. Mr. Espaillat grew more incensed as he spoke with reporters, and told the press corps that the brief detention of Mr. Padilla is a threat not only to Congress’s power, but to the First Amendment. “Let me warn you, the press: You won’t be spared. You won’t be spared, either,” Mr. Espaillat told reporters outside of the speaker’s office. Before the Hispanic Caucus members and other Democrats tried to meet with him in his office, Mr. Johnson brushed off the entire incident, saying that Mr. Padilla was acting inappropriately and got what he deserved. “I think the senator’s actions — my view is that it was wildly inappropriate. You don’t charge a sitting Cabinet secretary,” Mr. Johnson said. As the speaker was telling reporters his opinion about the event, several House Democrats were walking past him. As the speaker was offering his thoughts, many shouted, “That’s a lie.” “It’s not my decision to make. I’m not in that chamber, but I do think that it merits immediate attention by their colleagues over there,” Mr. Johnson said of consequences for Mr. Padilla as a result of his interruption of Ms. Noem at the press conference. “I think that behavior, at a minimum, it rises to the level of a censure.”Mr. Thune was not as gung-ho about such a move. As he walked on to the Senate floor on Thursday afternoon, the Senate majority leader said he had spoken to Mr. Padilla and the Senate’s sergeant-at-arms about the ordeal, and he wants “to get the full scope of what happened and do what we would do on any incident like this involving a senator.”When asked by the Sun if he thought censure should be on the table, Mr. Thune responded before walking on to the Senate floor: “That’s all I’ve got to say.”

Democrats Demand Investigation Into Padilla Incident, Saying Agents Illegally Assaulted the Senator

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