“‘A Republic, If You Can Keep It’ Is Now”: US Senator Thrown to Ground, Arrested
Calif Democrat Padilla announced himself, said he had questions for DHS boss
Outrage is building — and calls are growing for Republicans to join in that condemnation — after an incumbent US senator was forcibly removed from a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and thrown to the ground and arrested by what appeared to be federal agents.
Sen Alex Padilla, Democrat of California, stood calmly in Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s press conference as he identified himself and said that he had questions for the secretary.
This is according to video captured of the entire incident.
Padilla, ranking Democrat on a Senate Homeland Security Committee subcommittee with jurisdiction over Noem’s agency, was immediately forced out of the room, thrown roughly to the ground and handcuffed by men — at least one of whom clearly was wearing a vest marked “FBI.”
Following his release, Padilla made a public statement.
“I will say this: If this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question — if this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question — I can only imagine what they’re doing to farm workers, to cooks, to day laborers, in the Los Angeles community, throughout California, and throughout the country.”
Padilla’s fellow Democrats immediately came to his defense.
“This is a horrifying moment in our nation’s history,” Sen Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts, posted along with a lengthier video of herself noticeably distraught.
“Our job as elected officials is to stand up and fight for our constituents. That’s exactly what Senator Alex Padilla did today, posted Mallory McMorrow, a Michigan state legislator and a Democratic candidate for US Senate.
Author and historian Kevin Kruse posted: “The state of California needs to arrest the DHS "security" forces for assault and every Democrat in the U.S. Senate needs to sign onto a campaign to impeach Kristi Noem.
Right fucking now.”
Joyce Vance, a prominent legal analyst and a former US attorney, also signaled the importance of the moment.
“This is not hard. Every Republican member of Congress should join Democrats in condemning this administration’s vicious arrest of Sen Padilla,” she posted to social media. “‘A Republic if you can keep it’ is now,” she added, referring to the quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin, delivered after the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention in 1787.
And Sen Chris Murphy, of Connecticut, refuted claims that Padilla’s appearance had been “disrespectful.”
“Even if you believe he was disrespectful — and given the times that is certainly in the eye of the beholder — that never justifies what we saw on that video,” Murphy said, in Washington DC on the Senate floor.
Please support our work…
Please subscribe …