Shocked and angry House Democrats are demanding that Kristi Noem testify before Congress after Sen. Alex Padilla was detained by federal agents at her DHS press conference in Los Angeles.
The California delegation quickly gathered on the House steps to decry the incident as video of Padilla being handcuffed and manhandled ricocheted around Capitol Hill.
“If it can happen to Alex, it can happen to any of those senators on the other side, or any member of Congress, or anybody,” said Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.).
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said ”every single person who was involved in manhandling Senator Padilla should be held accountable to the full extent of the law.”
Tensions flared on the House floor between purple-district Reps. John Mannion (D-N.Y.) and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.). Mannion told Lawler to “shut up.” Later, Lawler posted on X telling Mannion to “seek help for anger management — and fuck off.”
Earlier on the House steps, Mannion got emotional as he implored reporters: “Don’t cover the distractions. Cover the actions that lead us towards authoritarianism, please.”
Still, other Democrats went further. Progressive Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) called for Noem to resign.
Meanwhile, while some Republicans expressed concern, many largely lined up to defend the DHS secretary and the federal officers.
“Without seeing that video, I’d just say: we all know what the laws of this country are and if you think you can disrupt or violate those laws and get away with it just because you’re in elected office, is ludicrous,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise.
Democratic lawmakers, largely led by the Hispanic Caucus, plan to march to Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s office in protest, according to a person familiar with the situation.
But with Thune scheduled to go to the White House this afternoon, it’s not clear anyone will be there.
Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.
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