Adam Schiff Responds To Padilla Being Forcibly Removed From DHS Sec. Kristi Noem’s Briefing

Forbes Breaking News

During remarks on the Senate floor on Thursday, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) spoke about Sen. Alex Padilla's (D-CA) removal from a DHS press briefing.

Transcript

00:00...while retaining the right to the floor.

00:03I thank the gentleman for yielding.

00:06I just watched footage of our colleague, my California colleague, Senator Alex Badia,

00:14being forcibly removed from a briefing by the Secretary of Homeland Security's staff.

00:21He went there to observe and to ask questions,

00:24and I watched with horror on this video seeing these agents grab my colleague,

00:34my fellow senator from California, grab him, push him out of the hearing

00:39as he was identifying himself as a U.S. senator,

00:43bring him into a hallway, bring him down to the ground, bring his arms behind his back.

00:47I saw this happen to my colleague, and I am shocked by how far we have descended

00:58in the first 140 days of this administration,

01:02where we have a president calling out the military over the objection of a governor

01:09calling out the Marines to try to inflame tensions in our city.

01:21And now, this latest act, when a U.S. senator goes to demand questions

01:26about the lawfulness or lawlessness of these actions,

01:31to see him tackled to the ground, brought to the ground.

01:34What is becoming of our democracy?

01:40Are there no limits to what this administration will do?

01:44Is there no line they will not cross?

01:48We see lawlessness after lawlessness.

01:52We see threats to judges of impeachment and of physical harm.

01:57We see arrests of members of Congress.

01:59And now this.

02:05All of us have lived as part of a generation since World War II

02:08that was used to seeing our freedoms ever expanding.

02:11We saw walls coming down.

02:13We saw new democracies being born.

02:17We came to think that somehow this was inevitable, like the laws of nature,

02:22that it was the moral arc of the universe always bending towards justice,

02:26only to see that it was not bending towards justice.

02:30And to see this now at home,

02:35to see in the United States of America,

02:39the executive use force like this

02:42against a member of a co-equal branch of government,

02:46to see that it has come to this already.

02:50And not a peep yet from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle.

02:59No whisper of dissent yet.

03:02I hope that changes.

03:05I hope that changes.

03:06The founders separated the powers between the executive and the legislative and the judiciary

03:12because they wanted to set ambition against ambition,

03:16ambition of one institution against another to protect all of our freedom.

03:20But that requires that we go beyond our partisan affiliations.

03:26And when something is wrong, dead wrong,

03:28when something is a threat to our democracy,

03:32that we call it out regardless of party.

03:35And this is wrong.

03:37This is wrong.

03:39We ask, how do you lose a democracy?

03:43How does one lose a democracy?

03:46This is how you lose a democracy.

03:50Actions like today, but even more importantly

03:52than what has just happened is

03:55what will happen in the next 24 hours.

03:58Will this be roundly condemned?

04:01Will this be roundly condemned?

04:03Or somehow will we just fall down some partisan line again

04:09and see another leap towards autocracy in this country?

04:15Alex Padilla is one of the most decent people I know.

04:20One of the most dedicated public servants I know.

04:25Someone of just the greatest character.

04:28We all know him well in this institution.

04:32He embodies public service.

04:35He never forgot where he came from.

04:37He came from very humble origins

04:39and he never forgot where he came from.

04:43And the beauty of this country is

04:46you can come from a very humble origin

04:49and you can end up here.

04:52When I first got here,

04:53John Tester, a farmer from Montana

04:56and a senator from Montana

04:57told me about a conversation he had

05:00with John D. Rockefeller when he got here

05:01and he said Rockefeller told him

05:03you and I came from very different places

05:05but we both ended up here.

05:07It's the beauty of America

05:08that Alex Padilla could end up here

05:10by dint of his brilliance

05:12and his integrity and his compassion.

05:17And all of that is at risk.

05:20All that is at risk right now.

05:22If we let the abusive handling

05:27of this good man

05:28and so many other good men and women

05:31around the country,

05:32if we let this go

05:33without our firmest opposition,

05:38without our strongest pushback,

05:41without our strongest defense

05:42of our democracy.

05:44And with that,

05:47I ask the gentleman from New Jersey

05:50whether he will yield

05:52to the gentlewoman to my right.

05:56I intend to yield, but...

05:58I don't mean yield,

05:59but yield for a question.

05:59May I, excuse me,

06:01let me consult the part of Mentarian

06:02for just a second.

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