Jeff Merkley Warns That Padilla’s Forced Removal From A DHS Briefing Is Authoritarian Behavior

Forbes Breaking News

During remarks on the Senate floor on Thursday, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) spoke about the forced removal of Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) from a DHS press briefing.

Transcript

00:00As a senator from Oregon.

00:02I ask a quorum call be evitiated.

00:05The Senate is not in a quorum call?

00:07I've come to the floor to say I'm extremely outraged

00:11that the executive branch's security team

00:14have shoved a U.S. senator out of a room,

00:17have proceeded to put that U.S. senator on the ground

00:20and to half-handcuff that senator.

00:22This is what we expect to see in authoritarian nations.

00:26They can't tolerate a question,

00:28and they start to attack the institutions.

00:31This is what we're seeing in the U.S. right now.

00:33We're seeing it in the form of the president

00:35willfully breaking the law on the rules

00:38controlling the executive branch time and time again.

00:43We see it in his attack on the press,

00:46his attack on the universities,

00:48his attack on extorting law firms.

00:52We see it in the form of his using

00:55the Trump versus the United States lawsuit

00:57to say, I, the president, above the law,

01:00and I can issue pardon,

01:01so the whole executive branch is above the law.

01:04That is not the way it works in a republic.

01:09At least, it's not the way it works

01:12if we are a republic.

01:13If we, through a subservient Congress

01:19and a combination with a deferential Supreme Court,

01:25slide into this authoritarian state,

01:29then we have failed our oath to the Constitution.

01:33It is absolutely wrong that any U.S. senator,

01:37for attempting to ask a question,

01:39be treated in this fashion.

01:42I double down on the call of Leader Schumer.

01:47This merits a full bipartisan investigation.

01:51Bipartisan because all of us are members

01:52of the legislative branch.

01:54All of us have taken an oath to the Constitution,

01:56and all of us should stand up for each other

01:58and certainly our ability

02:01to explore the policies of this administration.

02:05Thank you, Mr. President.

Category

Transcript

Recommended