Dozens of House Democrats marched to Hill GOP leaders’ offices Thursday afternoon in protest of Sen. Alex Padilla’s detention by federal agents, but they weren’t able to meet with Speaker Mike Johnson or Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
As the House wrapped up its last votes for the week, dozens of House Democrats walked across the Capitol first to Thune’s office, then back to Johnson’s office, in an effort to speak with them. But neither GOP leader was available, the Democrats said after. Thune was at the White House Thursday afternoon for a meeting with President Donald Trump on the megabill.
“We have concerns, grave concerns when the Speaker of the House refers to a sitting member of the U.S. Senate who simply tried to exercise his First Amendment rights as acting like a thug,” said Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), chair of the Hispanic Caucus.
Earlier, the group of Democrats heckled Johnson on their way to Thune’s office as the speaker took a victory lap about the passage of billions of dollars of clawbacks of congressionally-approved funding. As Johnson started to address Padilla’s brief detention and called his actions “wildly inappropriate,” one lawmaker yelled: “keep propping up that authoritarian!” Another shouted “that’s a lie!”
Johnson also floated to reporters the possibility of censuring Padilla, drawing outrage from the Democrats who later gathered outside his office.
“Anyone that’s reasonable that sees the video will understand Sen. Padilla was not aggressive,” Espaillat said.
Meredith Lee Hill and Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report
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