Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Thursday said Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) should be censured after he tried to approach and question Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a press conference in Los Angeles, prompting federal agents to forcibly remove him from the room and handcuff him.
Video of the altercation — captured by reporters on the scene — sent shock waves through the Capitol, with Democrats slamming the way law enforcement personnel handled Padilla, and Republicans condemning the senator’s conduct at the media availability.
Pressed on whether Padilla should face consequences, Johnson initially demurred — ”it’s not my decision to make, I’m not in that chamber” — before endorsing censure for the California Democrat.
“I think that that behavior at a minimum rises to the level of a censure,” Johnson told reporters. “I think there needs to be a message sent by the body as a whole that that is not what we’re going to do, that’s not what we’re going to act.”
“We’re not going to have branches fighting physically and having senators charging Cabinet secretaries,” he added. “We got to do better and I hope that we will.”
Just eight senators have been censured in history, the most recent being former Sen. David Durenberger (R-Minn.), who was penalized for financial wrongdoing. The punishment requires a simple majority in the Senate.
The comments came during a press availability in the Capitol after House Republicans narrowly passed a bill to claw back $9.4 billion in federal spending for public broadcasting and foreign aid. Johnson staged the gaggle to discuss the legislation but was swarmed with questions about the altercation in Los Angeles.
“I saw the same video, a very brief video, that I think many people did — I think the senator’s actions, my view, is it was wildly inappropriate,” he said. “You don’t charge a sitting Cabinet secretary, and everybody can draw their own conclusions, you can see it’s a heated debate here.”
As he delivered those remarks, a long line of House Democrats — including many in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and from the California delegation — walked behind the Speaker and heckled him as he spoke.
Rep. Sam Liccardo (D-Calif), who represents the San Francisco Bay area, shouted “Mike, that’s absurd.” Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) yelled “why don’t you stand up for Congress?” Another House Democrat exclaimed “that’s a lie.”
Asked if he would respond to some of the comments, Johnson declined.
“I’m not going to respond to that,” the Speaker said. “I think the American people can draw their own conclusions. They saw a senator acting like a, wildly inappropriate, I’ll leave it at that.”
“What I saw was agents asking him to quiet down so that the secretary could continue her press conference. He refused to do so. What were they supposed to do? They have to restrain someone who is engaging in that kind of behavior. They moved him out of the room,” Johnson later added. “A sitting member of Congress should not act like that, it is beneath a member of Congress, it is beneath a U.S. senator. They are supposed to lead by example, and that is not a good example.”
Earlier on Thursday, Padilla interrupted a press conference Noem was holding in Los Angeles amid widespread protests against the Trump administration’s deportation efforts and against President Trump’s mobilizing the National Guard and Marines to protect agents.
Multiple men forcibly removed him from the room and handcuffed him.
“I’m Sen. Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary,” Padilla is heard saying as he struggled with officers holding him back.
As he was aggressively moved out two double doors the senator can be heard saying “Hands off!”
“Senator Padilla is currently in Los Angeles exercising his duty to perform Congressional oversight of the federal government’s operations in Los Angeles and across California,” Padilla’s office said in a statement immediately after the altercation.
“He was in the federal building to receive a briefing with General Guillot and was listening to Secretary Noem’s press conference. He tried to ask the Secretary a question, and was forcibly removed by federal agents, forced to the ground and handcuffed. He is not currently detained, and we are working to get additional information.
Updated at 6:21 p.m. EDT
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