00:00All right, both of you, please stay with me. As I said, the Democratic Senator Alex Padilla of California does join me now.
00:05And Senator, I appreciate your time. And I know you've had a day.
00:11I don't know if you just heard what Sochi was saying.
00:12She was saying that what she finds so unsettling as a Hispanic woman is that she feels that this happened to you because of how you look.
00:21And that as one of two sitting senators from California, those those Secret Service agents would have known exactly who you were.
00:26And in fact, after you started talking, you said, I'm Senator Alex Padilla. And you said it multiple times.
00:31Do you think that it was because of how you look?
00:35Look, I don't know what the motives are. I think the point is this, Aaron.
00:39And as I said, when I came out of the building a little while after the incident, if this can happen to me, a United States senator representing the state of California,
00:51if this is how the Department of Homeland Security and the people around the secretary will treat a United States senator for having the audacity to ask a question,
01:00then imagine what they can do. Imagine what they are doing to people in communities, not just throughout Los Angeles, but throughout the country.
01:09Now, but back to the facts at hand here, because I also heard Governor Pawlenty's remarks.
01:15So let me just set the record straight. The point was made.
01:19This wasn't at a park. This wasn't in front of a shopping center.
01:22This was inside a secure federal building.
01:26Yes, I myself went through security screening to enter the building.
01:29Why was I even there?
01:30I was there for a scheduled briefing with representatives of NORTHCOM, Northern Command,
01:37because from the Department of Defense to the Department of Homeland Security to the White House and everywhere in between,
01:43this isn't an administration that has been anything but transparent and accountable to the members of the Senate,
01:51to the Congress in general in our role of oversight and accountability.
01:55We have questions. We have questions. How is it that Donald Trump would, against the wishes of the governor of California,
02:03against the wishes of local law enforcement, nationalize, federalize National Guard troops and deploy them into a city where local law enforcement says,
02:14you know, we can control this.
02:16And Senator, we're...
02:17Go ahead.
02:18No, I just want to say we're awaiting an order from the judge, which we expect could come anytime,
02:22actually, in the next sort of 15 to 20 minutes on that order, because there was a hearing today.
02:26So we could get that news even as you and I are speaking.
02:29But I, you know, I understand that it's just when you look at these images and your staff was there,
02:36they were able to record what happened in the room.
02:37And then when they took you in the hall outside and they put you on the ground and they handcuffed you,
02:42and everybody's watching it and people are trying to understand what happened, it's unsettling.
02:47I mean, can I just show again the moment that you were detained, Senator?
02:50Because you're, you know, they're telling you to put your hands behind your back,
02:55they force you to the ground, they handcuff you, right?
02:59And this is after in the room you'd asked a question.
03:00Now, when she was talking, it did sound like you were talking over her.
03:05You heard the governor say you were trying to create a spectacle.
03:08Tell me exactly what happened.
03:09You're just sitting in the room and then what?
03:11Tell me how you see it.
03:13So here's what I have.
03:14So I'm in the conference room a couple doors down waiting this briefing with representatives of Northern Command.
03:19We learned almost on the spot that there's this press conference going on down the hall.
03:24Now my briefing is delayed because of the folks in that press conference.
03:28From the moment I entered the building, I'm being escorted by a member of the National Guard and an FBI agent.
03:34I asked, well, since we're waiting, can we go listen in to the press conference?
03:38They escort me over to the press conference.
03:40They opened the door for me.
03:41I'm standing in the back behind the reporters, behind the cameras, just listening in.
03:46And at one point, the rhetoric, the rhetoric just got to be too much.
03:51Not the first time, but the second time the secretary takes it upon herself to say that the Trump administration wants to liberate the people of Los Angeles from the governor and the mayor.
04:02It was just too much.
04:03And so, yes, I said who I was.
04:07I began to ask a question.
04:08And it was maybe half a second later before there was multiple agents on me.
04:12They shoved me outside.
04:14I was trying to both get my question out and not lose my balance.
04:18You know, one is telling me, get down on my knees.
04:20Another one's pushing me in a different direction.
04:22There was no resistance.
04:23To the contrary.
04:24I kept asking, why am I being detained?
04:27Get down on your knees turns into flat on the floor.
04:30I'm trying, but I'm being pushed and pulled in different directions.
04:33And finally down on the floor, they handcuff me multiple times.
04:37Why am I being detained?
04:39No response.
04:40No response.
04:41No response.
04:42Finally, minutes later, I guess somebody around the secretary realizes this is the United States senator.
04:49And they come running down the hall and finally say, let him go.
04:52So, you know, again, the point is, if it can happen to me in that setting, imagine what they're doing to people all around the country.
05:00And let me also underscore this.
05:02It's not just about immigrants' rights, which so many peaceful protesters are shouting about in Los Angeles.
05:10It's about all of our rights.
05:12The reason this crisis, this spectacle, has been created by the Trump administration this week is because of all the bad headlines of recent weeks, right?
05:21Their budget bill is being exposed for what it is, gutting health care, gutting the social safety net to underwrite tax breaks for the rich.
05:28He certainly hasn't brought peace between Russia and Ukraine.
05:32He's losing every other day in court.
05:34He's broken up with his BFF, Elon Musk.
05:37So what does he do?
05:38He distracts and he scapegoats and demonizes immigrants.
05:41So, Senator, can I ask, you know, as I watch this, I'm struck and I'm sure many people are struck, whatever their politics may be.
05:52You're sitting, Senator, you're in the room and you identify yourself.
05:56We hear you identify yourself.
05:57I'm Senator Alex Padilla.
05:58I'm Senator Alex Padilla.
05:59I heard you say it, I believe, I think at least three times.
06:02And then this happens to you.
06:05I'm just curious.
06:06I'm sure maybe there's some part of you in that moment.
06:08You're saying, well, I'm a sitting senator.
06:10This is this is not going to end.
06:11This isn't going to end badly.
06:13But you still had to be shocked.
06:15Right.
06:15I mean, what was your emotion in that moment?
06:18I mean, there's not a position that you would have ever expected to find yourself in in a press conference suddenly being tackled and wrestled and thrown to the ground and had handcuffs put on you.
06:26Look, it took some restraint growing up where I grew up and how I grew up.
06:32Aaron, trust me, it's not easy when you may be pushed around like that by a law enforcement official to have that restraint because it's a physical reaction.
06:42But, you know, that if you don't oblige, it can escalate even more so.
06:46So I think I was very, very restrained with everything that happened there.
06:51Flash forward to now I'm getting walked down a hole in handcuffs, not being told where we're going.
06:56Are they escorting me outside?
06:58I don't know.
06:59Am I taken to a detention facility?
07:01I don't know.
07:02It's probably not to another conference room to, you know, go await the briefing, which never happened, by the way.
07:06After this all went down, the very folks I was supposed to meet with just said, you know, no briefing after all.
07:12So, you know, it saddens me, not just my kids that are watching this, and I've had to talk them through what happened and what it means and why I do what I do.
07:21But so many kids around the country seeing an administration that puts United States centers in handcuffs.
07:28This is not normal.
07:30We cannot treat it as normal.
07:33No, it's not normal.
07:34Well, Secretary Noem, she came out afterwards, and I'll play you what she said.
07:40I know you have since had a 10 to 15-minute conversation with her, and I want to ask you about what happened in that.
07:44But I wanted to play for you first because I know you may not have had a chance to hear this.
07:48She went on Fox News.
07:49She talked about the incident.
07:50Here's what she said happened.
07:52So that's what she said.
07:54I don't know whether that was before or after you spoke to her.
07:58She said you had a great conversation.
08:00What can you share about that conversation?
08:01Would you agree it was great?
08:03Well, first of all, from the interview, of course, lies, lies, lies.
08:06We've already established I did not barge into the room.
08:08I wasn't lunging at her or anybody.
08:10And, yes, I identified myself.
08:13So when the cuffs came off, they offered a meeting with the secretary.
08:18And, Aaron, look, I'm just trying to do my job as a senator.
08:20You know, when we ask questions in committee and don't get answers, okay, let's try another approach.
08:26We send formal letters, whether it's on my behalf or on behalf of so many of my colleagues requesting information as to what the heck they're doing.
08:35They're not responded to.
08:37And so, yes, when I had a potential audience with the secretary, I took it.
08:41Sadly, still not forthcoming with any sort of data or details.
08:45Because here's the problem.
08:46Any apology?
08:47Any apology for what happened to you?
08:49You would think, you would hope that that's how the meeting would have started.
08:51But no apology, no acknowledgment whatsoever.
08:55But it's the Trump administration.
08:56So I'm not holding my breath for decency, decorum, or manners here.
09:02One of the big points I was trying to make with her, one of the big points I was trying to make with her is, look, I get if the Trump administration was doing what Trump's out of the campaign trail, let's focus on dangerous, violent criminals for detention and deportation.
09:15There's no disagreement there.
09:18There's no debate there.
09:19But that's not what's happening on the streets of Los Angeles and throughout the country.
09:24There are some, and that's a good thing, but when they're cruelly detaining and deporting, oftentimes without due process, so many other hardworking people who our country relies on, that is not in our national interest.
09:40So on that front, just in L.A., talking to people and hearing what people were saying, they would say, well, I was here legally.
09:47Some would say, I came here illegally as a kid, but then I went through the process and I'm legal now.
09:51One person was talking about how they actually are working as someone who cleans the rooms for ICE agents who are staying in hotels detaining people, right?
09:59And they're too scared to go to work to clean the rooms, even though they need the money, because they're worried the ICE agent staying there might detain them just because they're Hispanic.
10:06And that brings me to the DHS, they're putting out images of Uncle Sam urging Americans to, in their words, report all foreign invaders to ICE.
10:16That's actually came out from the official X account for the Department of Homeland Security, deport all foreign invaders to ICE.
10:24Where is this headed?
10:26Yeah, well, look, Trump and his entire administration are great at misinformation and disinformation, at causing chaos, at causing division.
10:37Where is this going?
10:38It's going to keep getting worse.
10:39This is how authoritarianism happens, unless and until the people speak up and push back.
10:46And so that's why you've seen so many protesters, vast majority peaceful protesters, not just in and around Los Angeles this last week, but increasingly in other cities.
10:56So we have to continue to exercise our First Amendment rights.
10:59Keep it peaceful.
11:00Violence is not tolerated.
11:02Violence is not condoned.
11:03That will have its consequences, but people need to continue to speak up because this is not normal.
11:11Senator Padilla, I appreciate your time and thank you so much for coming on and talking about that incident today.
