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Currently reads: "Padilla was forcibly removed from a press conference with Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, after loudly disrupting the conference and aggressively approaching the Secretary. He said "I am Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary," after which he was pulled away by several agents, placed face-down and handcuffed" — having seen the video online, "placed face-down" hardly covers reality: wording more like "brutally assaulted, violently thrown down and then handcuffed" would be more appropriate. Is his whereabouts and safety known? Or has he been disappeared? - MPF (talk) 21:50, 12 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I rewrote this again because even its more recent revisions were confusing.
If you watch the video within the source cited, the media follows him into the hallway after the cuffing.
He was handcuffed by FBI Police and then later was uncuffed, got asked a question by a reporter where he said something like "we'll talk more after this", and then was taken into a room by agents. Armeym (talk) 00:23, 13 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Also just going to use language from sources. Not my place to implement extra verbiage or adjectives into actions that can be described more clearly. Armeym (talk) 00:25, 13 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I've added more information to the existing paragraph, including that he interrupted the meeting and that he approached the podium Noem was speaking from. This is why he was taken out of the room and handcuffed. Also included that Noem said that she spoke with him after the fact.
"Padilla interrupted the news conference after Noem delivered a particularly pointed line, saying federal authorities were not going away but planned to stay and increase operations to “liberate” the city from its “socialist” leadership" - AP
"Video footage released by Padilla’s office shows the Democratic Senator approaching the podium during Noem’s remarks: “I’m Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the Secretary,” he said before several men, including officers wearing FBI insignia, physically pushed him back. Moments later, Padilla was shoved to the floor face-down in a hallway outside the briefing room, handcuffed, and temporarily detained in an adjoining room." - Time
Thanks for these points and quoting the citations, I've added sources whith cover responses to Noem's remarks. As a first step,
"Because the incident was so sudden, and most cameras were trained on Noem as she began the press conference with deeply partisan prepared remarks, much of the initial video that circulated online did not actually show where Padilla was standing in relation to Noem when he tried to interrupt with his question. But one CBS News camera captured the exact moment that Padilla interrupted Noem ..... It was at this point in the CBS recording that Padilla could be heard beginning his question with the words: “Madame secretary, I want to know why you insist on exaggerating.” As Noem continued reading her remarks, without even pausing, the CBS camera panned to show Padilla, at some distance from her across the room. Just three seconds into the incident, Padilla could be seen standing, with his left hand raised slightly in a rhetorical gesture, trying to continue with his question, as a security officer placed his hands on the senator’s chest and back and began pushing him away from the front of the room. There is no visual evidence in the clip to suggest that Padilla was moving in Noem’s direction when he started speaking, or was ever within 10-15ft (3-3.5 metres) of her. Noem’s decision to ignore the interruption and continue reading her remarks also did not look or sound like the behavior of someone who had been lunged at.Guardian
"Padilla calls Noem's claim that he lunged at her 'a lie' in MSNBC interview .. In an interview with MSNBC on Thursday evening, senator Alex Padilla accused homeland security secretary Kristi Noem of telling a ‘ridiculous’ lie by claiming that he ‘lunged’ at her before being forced out of a news conference and handcuffed by federal agents. .... “I didn’t barge into the room” he added, rejecting Noem’s characterization of the incident. “The folks that were escorting me in the building walked me over. I didn’t even open the door. The door was opened for me. And I spent a few minutes in the back of the room just listening in until the rhetoric, the political rhetoric got to be too much to take. So I spoke up.” As video of the incident shows, Padilla moved to the front of the room, but was no closer to Noem than several reporters when he interrupted to ask a question. He also explained that after someone from Noem’s team realized that he was who he said he was, she agreed to meet with him after the news conference. And then, he said, he got to ask the question he was trying to ask in the press conference., which was about why the Trump administration claims it is going after violent criminals, but “we hear story after story after story of non-violent migrants who, many are working in very essential jobs for our economy, being rounded up.” "Guardian
Neither I nor the source I provided claimed that Padilla "lunged" at anyone. He stood up, approached the podium, and began asking a question in the middle of Noems statement. This disruption is why he was apprehended by the authorities and forced out of the room. While being pushed out is when he identified himself. The evidence of this is in the video itself, hes standing in front of all the chairs provided for the reporters and is being pushed back by the authorities.
More info will indeed come out and its important to avoid hyperbolics in order to construct a beneficial narrative for their side. Him disrupting the press conference by asking a question while shes in the middle of her statement and approaching the podium that Noem was speaking from are both crucial details in why he was put in handcuffs. Taking these out amounts to lying by omission in order to construct a narrative.
Forgot to add to my last post, here is another source from CBS News where an eyewitness to the incident confirms that Padilla was walking towards the podium Noem was speaking from while he asked an initial question
Thanks, that's a useful eyewitness account stating they saw P stepping towards the podium, without contradicting the video evidence that he stopped over 10ft. distant from Noem. Multiple sources cover the points that initial reports referred to a widely circulated video clip which started when P was already being pushed out of the room, and that after her meeting with P "Noem offered a different account in an interview on Fox News in which she falsely said Padilla did not identify himself before he was forced out. "We were conducting a press conference to update everyone on the enforcement actions that are ongoing to bring people bring peace to the city of Los Angeles, and this man burst into the room, started lunging towards the podium, interrupting me and elevating his voice, and was stopped, did not identify himself, and was removed from the room,"NBC news a false narrative that was taken up by other Republicans. That source does quote "Anthony Cangelosi, a former Secret Service agent, said that if it was an event that was not open to the public, then the forcible removal of Padilla appeared to be justified because he resisted leaving the room. “The facts and circumstances of him resisting the officers makes their use of force legitimate,” said Cangelosi, who is now an adjunct professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. “If he had put his hands up and said, ‘OK. I’m out of here, guys,’ and they still put him on the floor and in handcuffs, then they’d be using too much force,” Cangelosi added." So seemingly justifiable from a Secret Service bodyguard perspective, but once they'd iddentified that he was a senator in his legitimate workplace, apologies would be more appropriate than false accusations. . . dave souza, talk19:23, 13 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
See also: "Sen. Alex Padilla disputed the White House’s account of the events surrounding his forcible removal from a news conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles on Thursday, pushing back against key details about what exactly preceded his handcuffing by federal law enforcement agents. Both the White House and Noem said Padilla, D-Calif., failed to identify himself to security, yelled and lunged toward Noem. "This man burst into the room, started lunging towards the podium, interrupting me and elevating his voice, and was stopped, did not identify himself, and was removed from the room,” Noem said in an interview on Fox News. “The way that he acted was completely inappropriate." Padilla denied all of Noem's characterizations in his first interview after the incident — on MSNBC with NBC News' Jacob Soboroff.NBC news .. dave souza, talk19:36, 13 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
"A statement on the Department of Homeland Security's X account called the senator's actions "disrespectful political theatre", saying that Padilla did not identify himself and that US secret service agents in the room "thought he was an attacker" and "acted appropriately" ".BBC . . . dave souza, talk20:01, 13 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
"At that point, Padilla — who had barged into the conference room as Noem spoke — tried to address the Homeland Security chief before he was accosted by Secret Service and FBI agents.... Padilla asserted that while he was waiting for a separate briefing, he learned that Noem was holding a press conference just a few doors down the hall. Adding that he and his Democratic colleagues have been attempting to get answers from DHS on their “increasingly extreme” immigration actions, Noem had given little to no information in recent weeks, prompting him to attend her presser. “I came to the press conference to hear what she had to say, to see if I could learn any new additional information,” he continued. “I was there peacefully. At one point, I had a question and so I began to ask a question. I was almost immediately forcibly removed from the room. I was forced to the ground and I was handcuffed. I was not arrested. I was not detained.” While urging more “peaceful protests” across the country against the administration’s immigration enforcement actions, he wrapped up his remarks by suggesting that his incident was a warning shot. “If this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question, you can only imagine what they‘re doing to farmworkers, to cooks, to day laborers out in the Los Angeles community and throughout California and throughout the country,” Padilla said. “We will hold this administration accountable.“ Meanwhile, a Homeland Security spokesperson accused Padilla of “lunging” at Noem without identifying himself, though video footage captures the senator saying his name and title at least twice. “Senator Padilla chose disrespectful political theatre and interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate security pin on as he lunged toward Secretary Noem,” assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin told The Independent. “Mr. Padilla was told repeatedly to back away and did not comply with officers’ repeated commands,” she added. “U.S. Secret Service thought he was an attacker and officers acted appropriately.” .... The FBI similarly accused Padilla of not identifying himself despite footage that shows him announcing his name to the secretary. .... [Noem} also reiterated her office’s claim that he didn’t identify himself and attempted to “lunge” at her. “I’ll let the law enforcement speak to how this situation was handled,” she stated. “But I will say that people need to identify themselves before they start lunging at people during press conferences.” ..... Schiff told reporters on Capitol Hill that he wants an investigation into the incident — a call that was echoed by other Democratic lawmakers. In a brief, furious statement on the Senate floor, Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said footage of the incident “sickened my stomach.” .... “Reeks of totalitarianism,” he said. “We need a full investigation, immediately, as to what happened, and who did what, and what’s going to be done to see that this does not happen again.” .... Republicans, meanwhile, appeared to be looking to escalate the situation by calling for sanctions against Padilla. House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Thursday afternoon that the senator engaged in “wildly inappropriate behavior” before urging the upper chamber to take action against him.The Independent .. dave souza, talk20:29, 13 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
"Noem, who was speaking about immigration and the protests in LA, continued addressing reporters and law enforcement officers while the senator was ejected. .... immediate condemnation and an angry backlash on Capitol Hill ... Democrat[s] called the arrest a "sickening disgrace" ... LA Mayor Karen Bass called it "absolutely abhorrent and outrageous", .... Some Republicans also condemned the incident. "It's horrible," Senator Lisa Murkowski told reporters. .... Padilla said he "couldn't accept the rhetoric anymore" during the news conference and so tried to interject with a question.... The Trump administration accused Padilla of "disrespectful political theatre", ... the Department of Homeland Security said he lunged at Secretary Noem .... Padilla told reporters that he was already in the federal building for a previously scheduled meeting. He said he stopped by Noem's news briefing because he and his colleagues have received "little to no information in response" to several immigration-related queries... [he] urged Americans across the country to "continue peacefully protesting" .. But the White House accused the California senator of storming the press conference. "Padilla didn't want answers; he wanted attention," Abigail Jackson, White House spokesperson said. "Padilla embarrassed himself and his constituents with this immature, theatre-kid stunt – but it's telling that Democrats are more riled up about Padilla than they are about the violent riots and assaults on law enforcement in LA." BBC Dramatic photo in The Guardian captioned "A US marine walks in front of a vehicle outside the Wilshire Federal Building, after he was deployed to Los Angeles on Friday." Maybe defending it in case Padilla tries to visit again. "Most Republican national lawmakers criticized Padilla, although some Republican senators condemned his treatment, while Democrats overwhelmingly applauded his challenge to the administration and were appalled at his removal." . . . dave souza, talk22:32, 13 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
